Kings of Leon - Comcast Center, September 11, 2009

Kings of Leon
Comcast Center, Mansfield MA
Friday, September 11, 2009

Support - Glasvegas

There is little doubt Kings of Leon are riding a big wave of success these days. Now, to be fair it has been at least a little time coming for the Tennessee based band.

Overseas the band will headline festivals to 60+ thousand ravenous fans. Here in the States they are slowly starting to crack the arena market. There was little doubt on Friday the band had finally "made it". The audience was ravenous and sang along from the get go.

The band, made up of three brothers Caleb Followill - lead vocals, rhythm guitar, Jared Followill - bass, Matthew Followill - lead guitar and their cousin Nathan Followill on drums took the stage about 8:45 to a semi full venue, but that would not last long. Opening with the lead off track off the latest record "Only By the Night" Closer slowly built to a strong crescendo and the band seemed to be ready for a fun evening.

For over an hour the band would dip in to their catalog and hit on all the records. "Mollys Chamber" would appear pretty early in the set and a personal favorite "Fans" was not far after that. "Fans" was a treat with Caleb taking to the acoustic guitar and the band playing their rolls perfectly.

During the show there was no pretentious moments. No flashy drum, guitar or bass solos, and that was fine with me. There was a job to be done, and the band was doing just that. About 5 songs into the set I notice how "good" the band sounded. The bass for example was very clean. When there was a bass riff that was up in the mix it was very clean, no *WHHOMM WHOOM* sound that often times you hear a bass riff overwhelm the entire mix, but that never happened.

The band mentioned they had been on touring for the new record for a while and said we'd be getting some things that had not been played before...but I think they meant in a while. Nothing groundbreaking was played, but the band did dust off "Soft" and "Trani" which had been gone from the set list for a bit.

The main set ended with "Slow Night, So Long" and it felt out of place until the later part of the track where it really gets going. The band did end on a high not.

After a short break the encore began with "Be Somebody" a very strong track and Caleb was in fine voice. During the show there was occasional backing vocals and the members harmonize well. Two more of my personal favorites "Knocked Up" and "Black Thumbnail" followed. "Thumbnail" seemed to fall flat with the audience, at least around me, but this is typically the show closer, so it was surprising not as many people were feeling it. I could be wrong.

Totally forgetting perhaps their biggest radio song "Use Somebody" completed the show. I had forgotten about it honestly but the audience really liked this. It was a peak moment like another big radio song "Sex on Fire" was earlier in the set.

The Full setlist:
Closer
Crawl
Charmer
Molly's Chamber
Soft
Fans
Revelry
I Want You
The Bucket
Four Kicks
Sex on Fire
Notion
Manhattan
On Call
Cold Desert
Trani
Slow Night, So Long

Encore:

Be Somebody
Knocked Up
Black Thumbnail
Use Somebody

Overall I was pleased. I had good seats, about 8 rows off dead center behind the "pit section". The audience was mixed, and some folks rolled in 45 minutes in to the set. That seemed really odd to me.

Casual fans rest assured, you'd hear the songs you know..and more long time fans embrace they touch on each record.

I ran tape for the show and in scanning it sounds pretty good. I actually missed part of Use Somebody because they had been closing w/Black Thumbnail so as they were wrapping that up I began to move toward the exit. Right as I got to the top of the section they began Use Somebody. I was too committed with the move to go back at this point. Oh well, what I have heard so far sounds good.