Mainly it鈥檚 because her penchant for unfeasibly short skirts and overtly sexual clothing has effortlessly stolen the brains and critical faculties of music journos the world over, which are much needed when the hype that surrounds this band needs to be urgently exploded. Then there鈥檚 that strain of overarching American arrogance that鈥檚, quite frankly, hugely unappealing, and then there鈥檚 the rest of Rilo Kiley. Who? Exactly. Naturally one can鈥檛 help wondering whether Jenny Lewis is just biding her time waiting to go solo. And on tonight鈥檚 performance maybe she should. As Rilo Kiley blast into the set, it鈥檚 obvious that Jenny Lewis has the voice, charm and lyrical skills to be bigger than anything her band can ever deliver. It鈥檚 a Hit with its well aimed barbs directed at George Bush vies with Portions for Foxes, a song about the unfortunate places sexual desire takes us, as a couple of the best rock songs of the year and were played with a fire and nerve-tingling passion that I hadn鈥檛 seen on Manchester stage for years. However, at this point that Rilo Kiley鈥檚 set went into a disastrously dull free-fall. The tunes and hooks disappeared. The energy levels dropped and, inevitably, it was femme fatale Jenny Lewis who kept me in the venue. With a voice to die for and the sort of star quality Fame Academy has never been able to discover, her future looks very bright. Unless the rest of Rilo Kiley can provide the sparkling tunes and chops to go with her voice and lyrics, it will be a future very much without the boys in the band. | 
