The Kings of Leon are the hick rock dandy kings. The concert last night put hair in places I have never seen, if you know what I mean. Never before have I seen three men strut onstage in womens clothing and sing songs about impotence and gang rumbles with so much abandon. And the girls understood. There was a strange mix of preps, old rockers, new New Wave chicks and scuzzballs in Dikembe Mutombo jerseys. Every song was sung along with like it was some sort of Dashboard Confessional show crossed with a tent revival, which, given the Kings Baptist roots, seems apt. Highlights included the band shaking their asses as they played towards the drummer, and the lead singer getting so excited at the end of "Tranni" that he had to toss the mic stand at the ground. And everyone was smoking cigs on the stage, which seemed eternally cool for some reason. Sure, they didn't sing "Day Old Blues" (as like three dudes behind me cried out for) but they did play every other song off their two albums.
The openers, The Shout Out Louds, were no slouches themselves. I kept thinking, as they ripped through their set, "Shit, these guys (and girl) are going to be fucking huge." They sounded even better live then on their excellent CD "Howl Howl Gaff Gaff." A Swedish Cars or Weezer would sum them up, but their lyrics were more emo than either band. The enterance was met with indifference, but the crowd booed the lead singer when he said it would be the end of their set. Even cooler was the fact that the band went into the crowd to watch the other bands and even played pool. Jeff Hill said that he saw the lead singer checking out some hottie while she was bent over. And we think we smelled the bassist by the merch booth, and he smelled pretty bad. Who can blame him, he was rocking out in a full suit.
The Secret Machines sounded like a primordial Pink Floyd. They were good, good enough to make me buy their EP, but eight minute long jams are not usually my bag at concerts. Still, their cover of Dylan's "Girl From The North Country" made me nearly cry, it was so beautiful. The drummer was amazing, and he looked like a stoned caveman. He never once looked up from his kit, he was so into beating the shit out.
(I listened to the EP today, and the songs play much better on disc than live. Still, not as much drum. Which isn't a good thing)
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