So I attended the Kings of Leon show at The Joint at the Hard Rock Casino in Las Vegas this last weekend. Before I get to the show I'd like to say I'm proud of myself for powering through one of the most obnoxious concert going couples that I've ever been exposed to. Some highlights:- They had at least 10 rounds throughout the 3 sets of music that night. And no less than 3 drinks were immediately knocked onto the ground. Immediately. Not a drop imbibed. And one of the drinks spilled all over drunk mom's leather jacket.
- Drunk mom put on and took off her awesome leather jacket at least three times.
- I call her drunk mom because she mentioned that she was a 33 year old mom many times. One time, she slipped and said she was 35. And then collapsed into a pile of laughter on her companion, drunk dude.
- Drunk dude managed to both slow dance and dance in a hip hop fashion to many KoL songs including Milk and Revelry.
- Drunk dude recorded the first 30 odd seconds of most of the songs on his digital camera. Who the F re-watches 30 second clips of concerts? And that's not even considering how horrible the sound is on all videos recorded via digital camera.
- I hijacked at least 5 of their arm-outstretched self photos. My smiling mug is all over their KoL pics. They noticed one of them and then drunk mom could not stop laughing about it for at least 2 songs.
- I'm proud of my hijacking efforts, but I'll never out do the gentlemen in this photo. Flawless victory.
- Drunk mom and drunk dude eventually decide they're best friends with the couple to their left. Why? Because one of them is from Rancho Cucamonga, CA. They even take a foursome pic to commemorate the evening. Scratch that, it was actually a fivesome pic ifinyaknowwhatimean! [cough]hijacked again![cough]
The first opener was The Stills. They played for 30 minutes. They should have played at least one song from their old albums instead of non stop new biz. I look forward to checking out their new album. And I like their guy on keys who wears a fedora or a bowler hat without fail.
I had no idea who the next opener was until they began playing. The bass line of Inaction kicked in and I rejoiced. We Are Scientists played a good set of old and new stuff. I think it's fair to say their older stuff is stronger. The Great Escape FTW! Also their drummer did anything but mail it in. Guy was killing it, especially during the first album songs.
Next up ... Nacho! Nacho chants filled The Joint during the set break.
Then Kings of Leon trotted out to their Gregorian chant intro music. I'm pretty sure their set list was comprised of all the songs below ... listed in descending order of awesomeness.- Sex on Fire - This song just does not quit and singing along was rampant on this one.
- Manhattan - Caleb said they played this because they were mourning OU's loss to Texas that day. This was a big turning point for me on this tune. Song went from good to great for me.
- Razz - I almost became the yessssss person on this song. I really never would have guessed Razz would make the set list.
- Milk - Big crowd pleaser which I was happy to see. And this might be the #1 song for the Kings in terms of being very good on the album, but being completely epic in person.
- My Party - It's tough to take your eyes off Caleb on this one. And the breakdown/come back still really get me.
- Cold Desert - Goose bumps for me on this one. Caleb really kills the verses.
- Four Kicks - Jared's opening bass line rules and I was dancing immediately.
- Slow Night, So Long - Last song of the encore, still a great send off. Once again Jared rules this song.
- Charmer - This song is a masterpiece if you ask me.
- Revelry - You know the faint "woo hoo hooooo" that Caleb does at the end of the first verse? He pulled back at that point and the crowd was right there to fill in.
- Use Somebody - The crowd sang the back up part on this song. Great times. And this was the final song of their encore. Don't forget my prediction about this tune.
- McFearless - Surprisingly not a huge crowd pleaser, but one of my super favs.
- Knocked Up - First song back from the encore. Lots of singing along.
- Taper Jean Girl
- On Call - Still a killer sing-along tune. And Caleb still motions "c'mon c'mon c'mon" with his hands during the break before the final chorus. Crowd responds as usual.
- The Bucket
- Closer
- Black Thumbnail - singing along on the first verse of this song is really fun
- Crawl - Show opener. Solid groove to this one.
- Fans - The acoustic guitar makes it's only appearance!
- Molly's Chambers - Still one of my least fav KoL tunes, but I ain't complaining.
Shout out to cousin Emily who took in all 3 bands for the first time. I'll be shipping her some CDs soon. And props for ordering a pitcher of margs and then letting me down pretty much the whole thing alone due to tequila that "tasted funny". And a shout out to the over-the-top Penn State fans that basically ate dinner with us at Pink Taco ... And then received the remainder of our pitcher when we jetted for the show.
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