Home > Austin Music Source > Archives > 2008 > October > 27 > Entry
Review: Kings of Leon at Austin Music Hall
Kings of Leon frontman Caleb Followill cut his locks and still the ladies flocked. He jeered UT’s football team and still he was cheered. He and his band of two brothers and one cousin played vapid arena rockers from their hollow new album, “Only By the Night,” and still the sold-out Austin Music Hall crowd sang along. Kings of Leon could do no wrong Saturday, as they put on a clinic in setlist sequencing.
They started with “Crawl,” one of the new album’s better songs, and moved backward — a song from each of their three previous albums — until they reached their hallmark, “Molly’s Chambers,” from their debut album, “Youth & Young Manhood.” The crowd was lathered. It was time to complete the bait and switch.
“Sex on Fire,” their anthemic new single, led off a four-song string from “Only By the Night.” Caleb wrote the album’s melodies and lyrics in a post-surgery haze induced by pain pills and wine. A downside to the solipsism inherent in that was the song “Be Somebody,” wherein cousin Matthew’s guitar-playing with his teeth had to salvage Caleb’s overly earnest refrain, “Given a chance, I’m gonna be somebody.” (What are you waiting for?) An upside, though, was “Closer,” a sinister and soulful slow jam about a lovesick vampire, the likes of which can only be conceived in an altered state.
A hard right put Kings of Leon back in the stomping grounds of “Aha Shake Heartbreak.” A raunchy, boogie-woogie romp through some of that album’s greatest hits — “Milk,” “Four Kicks,” and “The Bucket” — brought it back to how it was when everyone was first turned on to the Kings. Pogo-dancing and fist-pumping on par with a high school house party abounded, and only occasionally let up through the rest of the set. Even Caleb, usually a cardboard-cutout, moved his skinny hips.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: In The Clubs, Reviews
Comments
Click here to report comment abuse.
By Jodie
October 27, 2008 4:46 PM | Link to this
I miss the KOL shows from a couple of years ago where everyone was rocking out vs. the slow-dancing/making out that took place at the Austin Music Hall last Saturday. They played 7 new songs at this show and that was at least 2 too many. The new songs aren’t great in my opinion - the whole “rock ballad” thing is lame but will probably help them make it big in the states where most all of the music played on the radio sucks.