Fire has gone out for radio-ready Kings
By SIMON SWEETMAN - The Dominion Post
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Tennessee's Kings Of Leon played the same venue in Wellington in January last year and essentially this was the same show - the only real difference was the addition of a few songs from their weakest album to date, Only By The Night; not much of an addition then.
In the past year Kings Of Leon made the transition to pop star pin- ups with a sound that has the band ditching the early promise of rockabilly grunt with hipster indie cred to sing radio-ready anthems that will be forgotten in a few months.
Kings Of Leon used to channel the southern-fried boogie of Canned Heat but now any heat has been canned altogether and the group is not that far off sounding like Elemeno P, albeit with a better looking and sounding singer and a handful of decent songs.
The tunes still have hooks but they feel like empty gestures. One of the most memorable was current uber-single Sex On Fire. The screams that accompanied the introduction explained the sell-out crowd this year compared with last year's half-empty hall.
At least the quality of the sound was improved with more bodies bumping around. It has a catchy riff and shout-along chorus but it is a weak song; the memorable aspect was seeing the reaction to it.
It's interesting to see this band no longer trying - the members seemed jaded, pushing the increasingly same-sounding songs out to an audience that seemed happy to just be there and therefore happy to hear anything. To see the band on stage was the reward, the music seemed to come second.
A few tracks from Aha Shake Heartbreak and Because Of The Times were enjoyable (Knocked Up is still great, saved for an encore), but the band has made no effort to build a show, to create something magical as a live experience, to build on previous gigs.
This looks and feels like a group that wants to be playing a small, sweaty pub gig but has sold too many albums and has had one single dominate the MTV-styled programmes and FM station play- lists.
There was nothing ghastly about this performance but it was an underwhelming experience; a band trading on the hype that has elevated them beyond anything they could have ever expected.
It seems the only likely move for the group now is to fold - and vacuous performances, showing no interest in taking risks, or even, for that matter, engaging the audience that is clearly so doting, would seem to be the first logical step in a band implosion.
And as good as the song Charmer is, somebody representing the Pixies should have filed a lawsuit by now, surely?
WHAT: Kings of Leon
WHEN: TSB Arena, Friday, March 27
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sounds like too much easy-come,easy-go for you si for those who spent the money, built the anticipation and got to see their favourite band got to enjoy the sense of OCCASION (not just the material) and had a good time. you bowl up as scheduled and type out whatever stale rubbish you feel inclined to write after the event. fair enough to tell it like it is cause thats your job, but it wasn't that bad mate and people go to these things to enjoy them. perhaps you should interview people outside as to their views also, it'd make for a better blog too dude
The support band Luger Boa were fantastic - let's hear more about them.
Why should they bother with this backwater? It's a tiny market where gigs sell out 'fans' who don't know the bands or the songs. I'm amazed KOL even came here.
I was at this concert and I totally agree. It was fine and that's about the best that can be said. The band were totally going through the motions. Personally I like the hillbilly-ish earlier stuff and am not so into the new album - obviously the vast majority of the crowd were the opposite. That's fine - I'm glad they had a good time but I agree with Simon's review. Also - he is meant to be a critic, don't take it personally if you don't agree.
they were awsome!!
Anyone brave enough to relive this pathetic show will find it here sometime http://bootsnallnz.blogspot.com
When it's available, excuse the crowd talking, I had to create my own entertainment, Friday.
Yeh it was, first song of the encore.
I'd be more inclined to agree with you if you actually knew what they'd played (were you there?) - Knocked Up wasn't on the setlist.
Simon, I think you are becoming a bit stale in your job. You don't sound as if you enjoy it, the whole part where you get paid to go to a concert which is already paid for you. The only thing for you to do really, is fold and give up your reviewing job you don't seem to enjoy anything once its become popular. Kings was great well worth the investment to hear good solid music rather than some cheesy crowd interaction. KOL don't sell CDs that are made up of them talking, the sell CDs because of the music (and yes maybe due to a bit of a fad with Sex On Fire) however if it gets people away from Rap and Hip Hop who are we to complain.
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I could not agree more with this review! You only had to look around at the crowd of drunk 16 year old girls and drunk 30 year old jocks screaming along to the lazy songs off the new album to realise that KOL are just not really the same band anymore. It even felt as if the older songs had been changed up to make them more singalong friendly. I get the feeling they are looking to become the next U2, that can be the only explanation for their increasingly "epic" sounding but at the same time completely soulless new material, which seems to be readymade to fill stadiums with idiots waving their cellphones in the air. What a shame.