The indie rock band Rilo Kiley saw the reunion of two members, Jenny Lewis and Blake Sennet, who played together for the first time in six years. Rilo Kiley broke up in the early 2010s after releasing six studio albums.
Vocalist Lewis and guitarist Sennett have not played together since the band’s official 2014 split except for at Coachella in 2015 when Sennett played “Portions For Foxes” with Lewis off their 2004 album More Adventurous. This time, the duo reunited for Linda Perry’s Rock-N-Relief livestream, which has been airing throughout the weekend to benefit Sean Penn’s CORE Response (Community Organized Relief Effort) for the COVID-19 pandemic. Sennett and Lewis teamed up for an acoustic rendition of “Let Me Back In” off their post-breakup Rkives from 2013.
Rilo Kiley formed in 1998 and released their debut self-titled EP in 1999. In 2004, More Adventurous reached the heights of Billboard’s Heatseekers Chart. The band stopped playing together or making new music in 2011 when they shared that their hiatus was permanent, before confirming an official split in 2014.
However, 2020 was a busy year for Rilo Kiley, as they shared a cover compilation of The Execution of All Things in October. The tribute featured a different band covering each song, including the poet and singer Sad13 on “Paint’s Peeling.” The band also saw the re-release of their 1999 self-titled debut on streaming services and vinyl last October as well.
See the partial reunion at the 5 hour 35-minute mark of the Rock-N-Relief livestream:
Photo credit: Stephen Hoffmeister
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