Kings Of Leon, Band Of Horses@ Allphones Arena, Sydney(04/11/11)

Mon 7th Nov, 2011 in Gig Reviews

Shoulder injuries, alleged drinking problems, tour cancelations and infighting seemed to darken the chances of Kings Of Leon ever returning to Australian shores after postponing their March tour dates. Despite the odds, the Kings made good on their promise and have returned with a stronger performance than they’ve given in the past.

Band of Horses are greeted by a barely full arena, but those who are there seem very happy to see them. A projector screen behind them played a montage of cat pictures and images of their previous travels, syncopated with the pulsing energy of their opening tunes. The group’s vocals were mixed well helping fill the empty space and, although the bass heavy mix diluted the clarity of the guitars, the Horses packed a sonic strength that defies their role as concert openers.

Charismatic front man Ben Bridwell’s consistent banter between songs was funny and genuine. He thanks the audience for their positive response and even dedicates a song to Victorian band, The Drones. Banter aside, Band of Horses let their music do most of the talking. Is There A Ghost, with its huge chorus, was made to fill arenas and Cigarettes, Wedding Band, with its blistering guitar solo and choral vocal, really help the group own the room.

Their set list was quite light on material from their most recent release Infinite Arms and maybe for good reason, the albums lead single Laredo caused barely a stir compared to the reception of the bands older tracks. With the audience nicely warmed up, Band of Horses close their set with Funeral and a flurry of distorted joy that make you feel that they are just one hit single away from headlining arenas themselves.

Coming out under a haze of red smoke and ominous music Kings Of Leon get straight down to business, starting with recent single Radioactive before churning through a handful of songs from their earlier records. Their sound is a little murky to begin with but with the aid of a fifth performer on stage, they manage pack a lot of sonic grunt.

From their performance it’s easy to see they are a different beast to the band that played the same venue in 2009. Caleb Followill’s 1000 yard stare is gone and he seems to be no longer rooted in front of the microphone. Onstage communication between band members seems to be at an all time high and, whether it’s talking to each other between songs or moving amongst each other mid track, The Kings seemed to finally be comfortable in their arena environment, their performance only improving because of it.

No matter if it’s the drunken swagger of Molly’s Chambers or the dramatics of new tracks like Pyro the band manage to capture the feel of their songs effortlessly. The live environment adds a needed rawness to the slick sheen of the songs from their recent recordings; their guitars had more bite and Caleb’s voice is layered with raspy character.

The latter half of the set was dominated by songs from Only By The Night and from the crowd response from the opening line of Revelry it was easy to see why. No era of the band’s discography received the same levels of elation from the audience and the power the bands mega hit Sex On Fire still has to have everyone leap out of their seats, singing and dancing is a testament to how key that song was in exploding their fan base.

The shows bests moments come from songs from other records however, the bass driven My Party was blistering and the seven minute sprawl of Knocked Up haunted the cavernous space. Unfortunately it was not all smooth sailing, messy mixing rendered The Bucket’s signature riff almost non-existent and, without its laid back lap steel hook, Back Down South dragged on in a mostly well-paced set.

After playing their reverb laced anthem Use Somebody to a frothing crowd the Tennessee troupe capped the night with an explosive version of Black Thumbnail. With its razor sharp lead licks and cries of “Now guitar, go get her” it reinforced to all present the power the band have as a bare bones rock & roll band and left a far more lasting impression than the fireworks and smoke that covered the groups exit.