Thursday, July 29, 2010

Kings of Leon - July 28, 2010 - Molson Canadian Amphitheatre, Toronto, ON

If you don't know Kings of Leon, you've been hiding under a rock.  Last summer in particular, I found that I couldn't take a step without hearing one of their tunes blasting out of the radio....and I rarely listen to the radio... but man, they seemed to be everywhere - restaurants, the gym, bars, shopping malls, etc.  They have some damned fine marketing folks!  I generally get ticked off when beat over the head in such a manner because I find that real genuine artistic talent rarely makes it to airplay.  The difference, for me, with Kings of Leon (and the reason I've not shunned them completely due to my disgust at talentless hacks that enjoy commercial success due to a good marketer as opposed to word of mouth fan discovery), is that I think they are pretty good, generally speaking.  They've got an interesting sound, and they have an incredibly cool story. (who DOESN'T love a good "family of religious freaks shun the church, form a band and go rock 'n roll" tale?!)  I like 'em.  And Caleb Followill has one of the sexiest voices in rock.  (although just had a discussion on that topic with some of the girls here and they don't seem to share that sentiment...just me, maybe?  It makes ME weak in the knees....)

Was my first concert of the 2010 season at the Molson Canadian Amphitheatre on the Ontario Place grounds.  This is a fantastic venue for live music - open air (yet the first 3 sections are covered from rain with a nice breeze off the water wafting through), good acoustics, and holds a large hoard of people (16,000 I believe?!).  Only problem is, with a night like last night, where it poured rain, it's a bitch to get to and from because it's literally in the middle of nowhere.  Regardless, a little soggy, we managed to get there and navigate the paperless ticket situation (none delivered, had to have my credit card I purchased the tickets with scanned), and enter the venue with very little problem until they confiscated our cameras. (!)  We were told that it is the band's choice, which I don't get at all....perhaps someone can enlighten me on this? 

Anyway, moving on.  We got the cameras back at the end of the show, while waiting in line with a large majority of fans who had had their umbrellas confiscated.  (yep....sigh...raining....outdoor venue....seriously?!  Savages!).

The Stills, a band from Montreal, were the openers.  I need to look into their stuff a little further.  Not because I loved them, but because I was still in "meh" mood when they came out.  In addition to being rained on and having my camera taken from me (and navigating a mess of humanity to get our seats), I had just paid $9.75 for a beer.  Thinking perhaps I wasn't all "open minded-y" at the time and willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

After intermission (monster lineup for bathroom, monster lineup for another $9.75 beer, grrrr (but got asked for ID!  Yay!), Kings of Leon hit the stage in a cloud of red smoke and high power lights.   I stood with cranky face with a "you better rock my world" attitude....  Pleased to say that they did, indeed, do just that. 

By the second song in, ("Notion"...my new favorite), my mood was completely turned around.  Add to that the immediate follow up of "Taper Jean Girl" off  the Aha Shake Heartbreak album with it's heavy bassline and funky feel and I'm actually beaming at the stage, fully invested and letting it flow through me, singing along ("uh, huh, sheeey heeeee").  Friggin' Awesome.  I.  AM.  IN!

There was a good mix of tunes with plenty of their older stuff thrown in (good...less polished than the current album), and they even threw in a couple of new tunes that are to make an appearance on the yet to be released album that were very cool.  AND, they tossed in a cover of the Pixies' "Where is My Mind" (of note, one of two Pixies songs I have on my ipod 'cause I kind of like it but can't call myself a Pixies fan) and took it's repetitive feel, roughed it up a bit, and rocked it out.

The boys were on.  Caleb held up my expectations with his voice that sounds like auditory booze and cigarettes blown over fine gravel - sexy as hell.  I stand by that.  The rest of the boys all had their stand out moments, and they sounded fantastic.  And I also learned something....I had no idea that the "wha, wha, wha" sound in Closer (one of my faves from the Only By the Night album) was actually created by putting lips to guitar strings and blowing with a little bit o' tooth manipulation...cool! 

Least favorite moment would have to be the crowd pleasing "Sex on Fire"....way overplayed and definitely not my favorite of their tunes by any means.  For a band who's whole vibe shoots off a lazy (in a good way) yet effortless, bluesy, sexy feel (screw Barry White, play some KOL), this just seemed to be overkill.  But man those twenty somethings sure did like screaming along to it.

All in all, their hour and 45min set was highly enjoyable.  As Jakki so accurately stated "Rain, stinking sweltering heat, the sweaty masses and long queues all added to the overall enjoyment. The show itself was an oasis in the middle of all the madness".  Yep...agreed.  Would see them again in a heartbeat (and I'm currently enjoying a little "relive" concert via ipod this morning!).  They turned around Cranky Lindsay...not an easy feat...good on 'em!

Set List:

Crawl

Notion
Taper Jean Girl
Immortals
Molly's Chambers
Fans
Milk
Mary
Closer
Four Kicks
The Bucket
Radioactive
Where Is My Mind? Pixies Cover
Sex on Fire
On Call
Southbound
Trani

Encore:
Knocked Up
Use Somebody
Black Thumbnail

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