Kings Of Leon (KOL) are on top of their game. After 14 years of paying their dues, the band is now selling out venues as large and as iconic as the 20,000 capacity of Madison Square Garden. For the rabid KOL fans at the Enmore Theatre, Wednesday night was a dream come true. If you are a follower of the Followill clan this was the golden ticket.
KOL’s latest release, Mechanical Bull, was the reason the band passed through Australia for a promotional visit. If you were in attendance you were a lucky punter. The band only played two shows in Australia – one on Goat Island in Sydney Harbour and the other at Sydney’s Enmore Theatre. The hum of electricity coming off the crowd outside and in the lobby was palpable even before a single note had been played. It was a party atmosphere where everyone was jovial and in very elevated spirits.
The men kicked off with the bright and rocking ‘Supersoaker’ from the new album. Caleb Followill’s vocal output was spot on and the band gathered speed during the following two well-loved tracks from Aha Shake Heartbreak, ‘The Bucket’ and ‘Taper Jean Girl’. During these songs and throughout the two-hour set, the crowd sang and jumped along, matching the energy that came from the stage. It may not have been a warm spring night outside, but the heat from the crowd was felt within the four walls.
Caleb (rhythm guitarist) and Matthew Followill (lead guitarist) worked their magic while the rhythm section of Nathan and Jared Followill kept the tempo moving during the first third of the performance. The middle portion of the set saw the band slowing down just a little bit, but that did not alter the happiness that the punters displayed as they communed about the old and the new songs coming from the stage.
‘Temple’ from Mechanical Bull was well received and is an excellent pop song. The next three offerings, ‘On Call’, ‘Be Somebody’, and ‘Cold Desert’, drifted through the Enmore. The energy of the band seemed to fade a bit during this part of the night – not that it mattered to most in attendance.
Heading back into anthem territory, ‘Use Somebody’ had the crowd pumping their fists to the lyrics and joining in on the “ohhh, ohhh, ohhhs” with vigour. The song closed the set, but the singing of the ‘Use Somebody’ continued well after the band left the stage, becoming part of the chant to bring the group back for the obligatory encore.
The driving rock n’ roll of ‘Don’t Matter’ really gave the band a workout with some excellent guitar solos and the very robust vocals from Caleb. ‘Sex On Fire’ closed what was a memorable, intimate evening with Kings Of Leon. It truly was a night for the fans to savour, and one they’ll no doubt store in their long-term memory.
Read our review of Mechanical Bull here.
Kings Of Leon Setlist
Supersoaker
The Bucket
Taper Jean Girl
Rock City
Notion
Radioactive
Family Tree
Four Kicks
Molly’s Chambers
Beautiful War
Closer
Fans
Back Down South
Pyro
Wait For Me
Temple
On Call
Be Somebody
Cold Desert
Use Somebody
Encore:
Black Thumbnail
Don’t Matter
Sex On Fire
