Live Review: Kings of Leon

Kings of Leon
The Warfield
San Francisco, CA
10.18.08

It's Saturday night at the recently refurbished Warfield Theater in San Francisco, CA., and the Kings of Leon are playing the second night of a sold out two night stand in the Bay Area.

Touring in support of their recently released album, Only By The Night, KOL overcame illness to give their growing legion of fans a heavy, rocking set that showcased material off the new album and left no doubt of the band's aspirations to be as big in America as they are across the pond in Europe.

Right out of the gate, KOL set the tone for the evening with a loud, rocking version of current single "Sex on Fire". The song's driving rhythm primed both the band and the crowd to converge and sing the song's soaring anthemic chorus to the delight of everyone in the theater. If there is a Saturday night call to arms, this song is the sound of that call.


KOL stoked the crowd's fire by following the opener with the one-two combination of "My Party" off 2007's Because of the Times, and "Razz" off of 2005's Aha Shake Heartbreak, keeping the pace of the show Ramones-esque with a rapid fire succession of songs with little-to-no pauses between them.

Playing against a bare-bones backdrop, KOL's new direction into bigger, anthemic rock connected with fans on songs like "Use Somebody", "On Call" and the drifty "Revelery", but the band's past was not abondoned: classic songs off Aha Shake Heartbreak like "Taper Jean Girl", "Slow Night So Long" and "Milk" blended seamlessly with the newer material.

Performing with the tight finesse of a seasoned road band, KOL's confident stage presence and delivery made one forget how young the guys in the band are age-wise. Battling a flu bug, frontman Caleb Followill shrugged off the illness to make that important emotional connection with the audience and was careful not to shred his already marbled vocals, while babyfaced guitarist and flat iron enthusiast Matthew Followill focused on playing some haunting, ethereal lead guitar that would have made The Edge smile in approval.


Songs off Only by the Night, showed the band continuing to mine the atmospherics of early U2 and merge that style with their earlier indie rock take on southern blues boogie. But where U2 were looking for God on the streets of Las Vegas, KOL stay focused on the complexities of getting laid and the dreaded politics of the morning after.

Drummer Nathan Followill was the MVP of the night, with his heavy, driving back beat that anchored songs like "Knocked Up" (a show highlight) and "The Bucket" among others. Bassist Jared Followill locked into some serious grooves with fellow brother Nathan and continued to explore his recent interest in fuzzed out basslines on newer songs like "Charmer" and "Crawl".

If there was anything to gripe about, it was the band's short set. 90 minutes later and the crowd found itself back on the sidewalk of Market Street before 11 PM. With four albums to pull from, the band should be able to give fans a meatier setlist. Where was "Be Somebody" off the new album (one of the newer, more dynamic songs begging for a spot in the live show)? Where was fan favorite "Trani" or "McFearless"?

Perhaps it was frontman Caleb's mystery illness that shortened the show, but if KOL want to continue to expand it's fanbase and graduate to larger venues, it needs the musical muscle to make each show unique in its own right.

Setlist complaints aside, Kings of Leon gave longtime fans and new converts a great musical primer to their Saturday night exploits in the city.

Setlist:

Sex on Fire
My Party
Razz
Molly’s Chambers
Taper Jean Girl
King of the Rodeo
Fans
Revelry
Milk
Four Kicks
The Bucket
Use Somebody
On Call
Closer
Cold Desert
Charmer
Slow Night, So Long

-encore-

Knocked Up
Manhattan
Crawl

YouTube videos courtesy of a fan and used without permission.

Album Review: Only By the Night

The dark side to wearing skin tight jeans is that at some point, you start taking yourself seriously.

After spending the previous three albums singing about all the wang dang sweet poontang that's been hurled their way, Kings of Leon get introspective and swing for the arena rock rafters with their new album Only By the Night.

Night finds the band further embracing the atmospheric 80s rock explored on previous album Because of the Times to mixed effect.

When it works, you get haunting, thunderous rockers like "Be Somebody" or the Secret Machines-esque "Crawl" and moody mid-tempo songs like album opener "Closer".

When it doesn't work, you are stuck in power ballad hell with no escape. "Use Somebody" and "17" are cliched-ridden 80s arena epics that takes you back to some John Water's high school dance teen flick, only there's no irony.

What happened to these guys? KOL want to play to packed arenas in their homeland the way they do in Europe. The snarl and reckless disdain that made their debut Youth and Young Manhood and follow up Aha Shake Heartbreak so much fun have been replaced by Bono/Vedder-esque introspection and ham-fisted arena rock balladry.

KOL are best when they're rocking songs about partying, drugs and women and not worrying about the consequences. Album single "Sex on Fire" is pure proof of this: a bouncy rock riff and rhythm pinging off each other like something off of A Ha Shake Heartbreak, and a chorus that makes absolutely no sense, yet manages to seep into your subconscious until you are screaming "This sex is on fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiire" to strangers on the street.

Despite not being as big in the USA as they are abroad, the Kings of Leon created a mystique with their first two albums that had music fans checking them out in increasing numbers. Aha Shake Heartbreak became the type of underground hipster album to throw on at a party like Paul's Boutique was during the 90s.

With Only By the Night, KOL (and most likely their record company) want to move some units. It's understandable to want to grow your audience and find success, but to embrace such horrifying musical cliches is a step in the wrong direction.

Is it about the music, the women or the money? For KOL, it was always about the women, then the music. Now it's about the money.

Purchase Only By The Night here from Amazon.

Kings of Leon will perform this Saturday on SNL. James Franco is the host.