Kings of Leon at The 02 Areana
Thursday 18th June 2009 - Write a comment
Kings of Leon sold out the 02 Areana 3 times in just over an hour when the tickets for their shows this week and at the end of June were released. Ebay prices for the gig were over triple the original selling price with many paying even more than that to see the Texas band. No wonder, you’d think, the band released their fourth album last September to a huge response from fans, tv and radio alike. No longer the hairy hillbillies with twangy guitars and ridiculously tight clothes, but men of huge sounding rock anthems and ballets. But this is not the Kings of Leon that the people who bought their first album Youth and Young Manhood fell in love with, nor is it the Kings of Leon of Aha Shake Heartbreak or perhaps even, Because of The Times. And despite much dancing and shouting along to the lyrics of the songs I adore one rather sunny Tuesday evening, it was not the Kings of Leon gig I had come to expect. Stood mere meters from the front of the barrier at a 20,000 capacity venue I had plenty of room to shake around without having the life squeezed out of me or struggling to breathe. To most, this would be seen as a good thing, not to me. I wanted to come out of that arena dripping in sweat, several bruises and perhaps having been kicked in the face once too many by crowd surfers. This is not what occurred, as front man Caleb declared half way through their set “you guys are amazing, you know so many more of our songs than last nights crowd, thank you so much.”
I was shocked, bar a few b-sides I would say my Kings of Leon obsession had me knowing every one of their songs, off by heart. I would have thought the rest of the 59,998 other people who woke up at 8am on a Friday morning to buy tickets for the bands stint at the O2 would have too. Don’t get my wrong, there were many, many proper Kings of Leon fans at the O2 to see the band, but the fact that Sex on Fire got a bigger crowd reaction that Molly’s Chamber did sums up the evening for me.
Still, despite this, I had an amazing time dancing like nobodies business and singing along like I no longer needed my vocal chords for anything, ever again. The 8 month wait between the time I bought the tickets and the gig was defnitely worth every day, and I know, come the inevitable fifth album I will buy it on the day of release and wake up at 8am to get tickets for the tour that will follow it.
You can tell how good a gig will be by how excited you get the moment you realise that your band are on stage, how big the flip in your stomach is and how big the grin is on your face as they pick up their instruments just before they begin to play. I have to say, I was a giddy Cheshire cat who defnitely got the cream.
