I must admit, it has been quite some time since I've heard "Free Bird!" drunkenly yelled at a concert, and thought to myself, "That actually wouldn't totally suck." In their youth, Kings of Leon's brand of countrified, riff-heavy rock was reminiscent of the giants of Southern rock, tinged with a modern Strokes-like influence. However, their recent albums have branched out from those bluesy, Tennessee roots to a mellower, more pop-driven sound, and unsurprisingly, they have found more success on the charts. Unfortunately, throughout their concert Sunday night, I found myself wishing for more of their early sound, and fewer cookie-cutter alt-rock songs, which all seemed to run together.
That said, don't let my criticism deter you from buying a ticket--if you love Kings of Leon's newer albums, you will love their live show. They dispense with banter and cruise through their discography, frequently playing so flawlessly that if you close your eyes, you can imagine yourself listening to the album at home. Fans (and there are many) of 2008's Only By the Night will be especially pleased with this tour: I expected to hear the hit, "Use Somebody," which they did close their set with, but was surprised to hear a bunch more tracks from the album (setlist below).
That being said, I personally don't come to a concert to listen to an album. I come for the flaws, the experiments, the extended solos. Looking back through my notes, almost every highlight of the night involved Matthew Followill on lead guitar, who can bust out an incendiary solo at a moment's notice. He was precise when needed, during moments like the shredding intro to "Radioactive," and brashly sloppy on solos during songs like "Crawl," which has a riff that begs for a raucous distorted solo. I just wish that their tight song form allowed him to let loose more often. Too many times I was ready for his solo to ramble, and instead was treated to yet another iteration of the hook-filled chorus.
The band did brave a few tracks from their newest release, Come Around Sundown, mentioning before "No Money" that they hadn't ever played it live before. It was a welcome moment of hesitation from lead singer Caleb Followill--he was clearly reading the lyrics as he sang, and the band was fighting to play the song cleanly. The tug and pull with a less-practiced song was great to watch, and much more enjoyable for me than watching them go through the motions playing "Sex on Fire" for their 2000th time. As a song with powerful drive and a grungier vibe than most of their new album, I daresay they will play "No Money" again next time.
Maybe I just like Aha Shake Heartbreak too much to love a show put on six years later, but I feel like this is a band that could blow the crowd away if they tweaked their style just slightly. Until then, they'll lose me when they play songs like "Revelry" and "The Immortals" back-to-back. There are only so many half-time, wall-of-sound choruses in a row that one man can take.
Setlist:
01. Mary
02. Crawl
03. Molly's Chambers
04. Radioactive
05. Fans
06. Revelry
07. The Immortals
08. The Bucket
09. Closer
10. Four Kicks
11. No Money
12. Notion
13. Pyro
14. On Call
15. Back Down South
16. Knocked Up
17. Use Somebody
Encore:
01. The End
02. Sex on Fire
03. Black Thumbnail
