I headed out to San Francisco over the weekend to visit some friends and Kings of Leon just so happened to be playing two sold out shows at The Warfield. What a pleasant coincidence! Having just released their forth LP, Only By The Night, I have been pretty antsy to hear the new songs live.
The Kings wasted no time getting into the new material opening the show with bass cruncher “Crawl”, which proved to be a perfect opener to the night. The crowd ate it up the new tunes, at times screaming them louder than the band, especially during “Sex On Fire”. “Be Somebody” is another one of the stronger tunes off the new album and was just as powerful live. Lead singer, Caleb Followill, was a bit under the weather, but with a little help from grandpa’s old cough medicine (whiskey), his vocals soared through the set. Before “Cold Desert” he told the crowd he was advised by his doctor not to sing this song, but threw down a shot and killed it. ROCK! The infamous roady/cousin Nacho took up some synth for the chilly “Closer”, another new song that has been
Most of the nights set consisted of songs from the last three albums, with “Molly’s Chamber” being the only tune from their debut LP. The Because Of The Times epic “Knocked Up” opened their encore. “Whoooaaa Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh”, cried the crowd, which carried over to some post show chants as well. “Manhattan” is one of the weaker songs off the new album and was a bit of a downer for the encore, but the Kings would not end this night on a soft note, closing with the southern shit kicking anthem “Four Kicks”.
Kings of Leon is the Led Zeppelin of our time. I know, a bold statement, but one with merit. Aside from some speculation on who writes these amazing tunes and the fact they might not be as pioneered technically, these guys have the rock n’ roll attitude and swagger to carry them to extreme heights of rockdom. The Kings are on top the UK charts and had their strongest US debut at number 4 on the Billboard charts, not to mention most of their US dates and all of their UK dates are sold out. Tickets for their Halloween show at Aragon in Chicago are sold out, but there are still some left for their Milwaukee show at The Eagles Ballroom November 5. Be sure to check these guys out!
Friday’s Setlist:
Crawl
My Party
Taper Jean Girl
King Of The Rodeo
Sex On Fire
Fans
Revelry
Milk
Razz
Molly’s Chambers
The Bucket
Be Somebody
On Call
Closer
Cold Desert
Charmer
Slow Night, So Long
Encore:
Knocked Up
Manhattan
Four Kicks
I really can’t remember the last time I watched the Grammy’s, but this year was a little bit hipper than most. Not only did Kings of Leon get nominated for 3 Grammy’s, winning Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals (Whatever the fuck that means??) for “Sex on Fire“, but rock dietes Radiohead were slated to play, so I tuned in. Sure at times it was complete torture sitting through collaborations of Stevie Wonder and the Jonas Brothers and Katy Perry (she has nice boobies) prancing around in utter awkwardness, but a few standout performances made it well worth it. I have to admit I am a fan of Estelle’s mega-catchy tune “American Boy” and her performance with Kanye was pretty effin good. And preggers MIA performing on the day her baby is due was fucking rad as hell, but nothing can compare to Thom Yorke and Johnny Greenwood performance with the USC Marching Band for a monumental version of “15 Step”. I was blown away by them at Lollapalooza last year and was amazed at how well the In Rainbows songs translated live. Unfortunately, the Grammy performance was minus Colin, Ed and Phil, but astounding none the less. Dig it!
