Kings of Leon featuring Band of Horses

Epic night last night. Kings of Leon unusually had only one opening band, but they made sure it was a band who could hold their own, and many fans came to see Band of Horses just as much as KOL. Band of Horses performed the 3 favorites, "The General Specific," "No One's Gonna Love You," and "Funeral." Their echoing vocals and stellar performance primed the audience for KOL, knowing more good music was in store. Even though some of the band hails from the land of the Cocks (South Carolina for those who don't follow college football), Ben Bridwell is a big UGA fan, which I can appreciate being a Dawg myself. Having the Red Coats (UGA's marching band) come on stage for the band's cover of Cee Lo Green's "Georgia" would have been the icing on the cake of a great show. When you have such a pop giant covering your song like Cee Lo did with "No One's Gonna Love You," you know you're making it. The band has so much talent with many members playing multiple instruments, and immersing myself into the Indie world this year, I can't wait to see what the future holds for Band of Horses.

Kings of Leon took the stage with "Radioactive," and speckled the set list with other songs like "The Immortals" and "Mi Amigo" from Come Around Sundown. Considering Atlanta was KOL's first performance and the boys being from Nashville, "Back Down South" was a fitting song to include. The crowd shirtless and sweaty danced to the popular "Sex on Fire" before KOL led into the crazy rock and roll encore of phenomenal guitar playing, drum banging, and Caleb Followill's raspy screams to "Crawl" and "Black Thumbnail" with "Use Somebody" in between. What I love about Atlanta is that the audience did the Braves tomahawk chant, a big week for the team with a 19 inning record breaker and win last night, to coax KOL back on stage for encore, reminding them that the south is the only place to be. In general KOL's lyrics are lacking in complete thoughts and sometimes hard to follow when Caleb sings, but they make up for it in their unique interpreation of southern bluesy rock and roll. For example, "Closer" is supposedly about a vampire, but the warborly notes at the beginning sends chills through my body. Just like last year, I wished I would have paid extra money for the pit, but on a writer's salary and other shows to attend...maybe next year.