Most works on the analysis of the wave equation on Kerr black holes rely on a combination of the vector field method and Fourier decomposition, with the notable exception of a generalized vector field method introduced by Andersson-Blue. Their method allows for commutation with second order differential operators entirely in physical-space by supplementing the Killing vector fields with the Carter operator of Kerr to obtain a local energy decay identity at the level of three derivatives of the solution for sufficiently small |a|. I this talk I will describe the main ideas of Andersson-Blue’s method and explain its advantages in two recent applications where physical space-estimates have been crucial: the linear stability of Kerr-Newman black hole to coupled gravitational-electromagnetic perturbations and our proof of the non-linear stability of the slowly rotating Kerr family with Klainerman-Szeftel.