Kings of Leon w/ The Walkmen
Bojangles Coliseum
April 30, 2009
The Deal: Kings of Leon draw roughly 5,000 to the “Bo-Round” for a night of good ol’ rock ‘n’ roll.
The Good: Approximately half of the crowd didn’t even appear inside the area while opening band The Watchmen were performing — those in attendance were clearly there for Kings of Leon. The band kicked off its set with “Crawl” off of its latest disc, Only By the Night. From there, singer Caleb Followill showcased his vocals going from mellow (“Cold Desert”) to barbaric screams (“Charmer”).
The band showcased songs from all four of its albums, though few from its debut Youth & Young Manhood. It brought out “Molly’s Chambers” early on in the night. Having seen the band on the main stage at Bonnaroo two years ago, the smaller arena setting felt like a better setting for the band, where the stage didn’t swallow them up and all in attendance were there for KoL. The band played for roughly one hour before taking a few minute break and returning for a five-song encore.
This isn’t a band that’s looking for a flashy stage show. Aside from a number of fence-like bands of light above their heads, the Followill clan did little other than perform the music. Nathan would walk toward the drums from time to time, often taking a drink from a glass of red wine and Matthew Followill found time during “Closer” to play guitar with his teeth. Aside from that, it was about the music and lyrics.
The Bad: I’ve heard a lot of people compare The Walkmen to Cold War Kids, but I didn’t see any resemblance at all. The Walkmen actually seemed pretty lifeless on stage and appeared to just be going through the motions without effort of getting the crowd up and ready for the Kings.
While the Kings did sell out Madison Square Garden, they should be a little bit more humble about their growing popularity. Caleb told the crowd, “Next time, bring your friends,” referring to empty seats in the tops of the lower levels. He also said, “For those who didn’t know this was a rock concert, this one’s for you,” before launching into the band’s hit single, “Sex on Fire.” There was no sign of “Red Morning Light,” which had been played at numerous other shows on the tour. Sad that the biggest reaction was to “Sex on Fire,” with so many other fantastic songs played, but such is life…
Oh, and my condolences to the girl that was hurling into the garbage can during the fourth song of the show. Must have been a long night for her…
The Verdict: Overall, it was a great show that makes you question why Kings have not grown into larger venues by this time. If you haven’t heard them by now, I might have to ask where you’ve been hiding.
Kings of Leon Setlist
Crawl
Taper Jean Girl
My Party
Be Somebody
Molly’s Chambers
Fans
Milk
Four Kicks
Charmer
Sex on Fire
The Bucket
Notion
On Call
Cold Desert
Use Somebody
Slow Night, So Long
Encore
Closer
Knocked Up
Manhattan
Instrumental
Black Thumbnail
This article appears in Apr 28 – May 5, 2009.
That 4th song was ‘Be Somebody’
Nope. “Be Somebody” was the second-to-last song on the main set…
Lay off the whiskey Mike!
Very good review, I would have loved to hear Red Morning Light also. Unforunately, you’re spot on about the ‘Sex on Fire’ crowd too.
I really enjoyed this show.
Nice review there Jeff.
Groovy pics too…
sorry jeff, but be somebody was the 4th song. use somebody was the second to last before slow night.
did you happen to get the walkmen set list?
Didn’t see the Walkmen setlist…sorry.
You keep calling the lead singer Nathan, but the lead singer is Caleb. It kinda hurts your credibility when you can’t differentiate one band member from the other. Do you know this band at all?
Yes, Caleb is the lead singer, Nathan is on drums.
Great show, excellent sound quality. My only complaints are that they didn’t play McFearless and Ragoo, two of my favorites. Also, I felt like they could have played longer. $55 for about 1.5 hours worth of music. For five times that amount I’ll be seeing 4 days of music at Bonnaroo. Good times though!
Ohauaha, “singer Nathan Followill”… someone have to change the job.
hi jeff
the ‘watchmen’ have been playing music since the cold war kids sounded like the kings of leon.
this is one of the worst music reviews I’ve ever read.
The Deal: writer cuts his teeth on rock n roll show
The Good: the music
The Bad: A clueless and thoughtless critique
p.s. ITS THE WALKMEN
Hard to take this review seriously when the guy obviously doesn’t even know who the Kings are. Singer is Caleb and Nathan is the drummer. Next time do your homework dude.
I’m not a weird walkmen fan. Ilove em both. I’m a fan of journalism. and this is egregious. the names are wrong. the atmosphere was misrepresented and nobody played guitar with their teeth. nice pics tho, childish story. do the right thing next time.
my name is derek. dht3000@gmail.com
feel free to contradict.
OK, from where I was sitting, it sure looked like he was playing it with his teeth. You want me to edit to say “held guitar up to his face to act like he was playing with his teeth” instead?
Yep I mixed up two names. That’s what happens when you’re on Twitter, write blogs, edit blogs, edit stories, write stories, research bands, do interviews, take photos, edit photos, post news headlines, write emails, answer emails, read emails… Maybe a little forgiveness for mixing up the names of four guys who are all named Followill?
I could understand a few small blunders in a larger article, but this was only like 6 paragraphs and mixing up names is a pretty big blunder. Journalism sort of requires editing, proofreading, and fact checking no matter how much “twittering” you have to do. If I was a member in Kings of Leon and read this nonsense, I would question whether or not to even come back to a city that cannot even take the time to accurately review a performance. It’s just amateurish. I would rather you put off posting the article for a day or so and check your story for accuracy as opposed to juggling all of the numerous tasks you listed above and writing bogus articles as a result.
The funny thing about all the comments is – I liked the show and think they’re a great band. I’ve been a fan since Youth & Young Manhood. You’d think I trashed them and fans were getting pissed off for it.
ps…Matthew DID play the guitar with his teeth!
He ALWAYS does at EVERY show!
Just to give the author the doubt of benefit here’s a screen-capture of Matthew playing the guitar with his teeth. Not the best article but its appreciated. BTW Great band love them since the old stuff.
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/PBeAuYGslzP-uqthil5iYw?feat=directlink
Peace.
i’m pretty sure he’s singing into them actually