Monday, October 27, 2008

Kings of Leon in OKC

Hey guys, as you may or may not know Kings of Leon are coming to town on Wednesday for a show at the Palladium Ballroom. But, last night they played a kind of "hometown" show in Oklahoma City. So, I wasn't able to go but, a reader, and my brother, did and sent us a pic of the setlist and a rundown of the show. Enjoy!

Last night started off as a first for me: my first Sunday night rock and/or roll show. Me and wifey got there early not just to see We Are Scientist, but to also get a good spot for what would be a “homecoming” for Kings of Leon.

The night started off good, for on our way back from a pre-show dinner at Tap Works in Bricktown back to the Coca-Cola Events Center who did I see? NACHO! Great dude. We talked for about five minutes and I learned that 8 Seconds is his favorite movie. You may wonder why I bring this up. If you’ve seen the movie you’ll know how Lane Frost waves to loved ones in the stands, well in an ode to Lane, Caleb gives the same wave to the crowd at the end of a show. Only on this night he would ferociously throw down with both hands the upside-down Texas Longhorns hand sign. Boomer Sooner indeed!

While I was wanting to see We Are Scientist I was far to anxious to truly enjoy the show, instead I was going to bathroom every fifteen minutes since I wasn’t wise enough to not break the seal at a proper time. But on my way to urination station you had to go by the “V.I.P.” section (in the far back?!?) and see all the Followill’s in attendance. There were about one hundred all told according to my conversation earlier with Nacho. Even if you didn’t know that was for family, you could’ve easily picked them out of the crowd as they were coming in the venue.

Finally the lights went out and the Kings were onstage to an energized crowd ready to see the somewhat hometown boys rips through songs culled from Youth and Young Manhood to the new Only By the Night.

The brothers (and cousin) Followill didn’t waste any time getting down to the nitty gritty. The set started off with “Crawl” (one of my favorite tunes from the new album). There’s just something about a super fuzzed up bass that makes me want to punch someone in the face! It might have been the fact there was a super drunk Native in front of me acting a fool.

One thing I always look for in a rock and/or roll show is not only a good set from the band itself, but a good to great crowd. This crowd was super stoked to see KoL and showed them the love the rest of the country should. The crown was singing along to every song that was laid out before them, just like anyone would do at a Sunday night worship service.

I think the best part for me was – even with all the singing along from the crowd was during “Slow Night, So Long” (which is usually reserved for the encore, but came as the last song in the set) when the crowd was at it’s singing zenith while shouting all in unison, “I’ll take you home, back to Oklahoma!” Truly a great show and powerful energy from beginning to end.

No comments: