It all went tits up for me a couple months ago and I never had the chance or inclination to post about the wonderful thing that happened immediately prior. One night after getting shat upon by pigeons in St. Louis, Kings of Leon gave an excellent, hot and sweaty concert outside Chicago. I had the amazing good fortune to see it from around this angle:
Unbelievable. As the ushers directed us to our seats, moving us ever closer to the stage, I kept thinking “There must be some mistake.” But, no. Our seats were in the first row behind the open-pit General Seating. We were blessed with the incredible view and spared the annoyance of people mingling and jostling and moving around. Standing in that giant barn of an arena, I felt like I was seeing an intimate club performance.
And that performance! They just don't miss a note. The set-list was really gratifying for the true fans – a heady mix of old and new and as-yet unreleased songs. The girl next to me was bored out of her mind until they got to “Sex on Fire” but I was thrilled. (“Radioactive” and “Southbound” have me counting the days until Come Around Sundown releases on October 19!)
Set List:
Crawl
Notion
Taper Jean Girl
Immortals
Molly's Chambers
Fans
Milk
Mary
Closer
Four Kicks
The Bucket
Radioactive
Sex on Fire
On Call
Southbound
Trani
Encore:
Knocked Up
Use Somebody
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That night, July 24, was absolutely sweltering. Sweat was rolling down my arms even before the lights dimmed. A thunderstorm rolled through and the lightning lit up the sky throughout the show. The front pushed through right in the middle of “Sex on Fire”, the cooling breeze cutting across the crowd and stage alike. I saw the guys lift their heads, lean into the breeze and take a collective cleansing breath of fresh air. The skies dumped oceans of water, drenching the lawn. Caleb thanked them for hanging in there and vowed to keep playing.
Literally moments later, my personal situation bottomed out and I'm still not over it. As crap as that has been, however, I haven't shaken the afterglow of that concert. Thanks for a great night, KOL.
