Still searching for a good photo of the O2 so this will have to do, courtesy of the good people over at State.Hard to describe how impressed I was with the new O2 (still feels weird saying that), but considering they spent €80 million on it, plus the fact that it was a sh*thole to begin with, makes it less suprising that it is now a state of the art, all purpose music venue, unparalleled in this country.
Kings of Leon were good - very good even - and played for two hours, but like many others, I spent most of the first hour marvelling at the size of the room. 14,000 people I might add, and still very comfortable.
French electro-rock band M83 got things underway but seemed a little lost in the size of the venue. Saw them in Andrew's Lane recently enough and was rather more impressed.
KOL appeared on stage to thunderous roars around 9.15pm, and to the rather less thunderous and more atmospheric strains of Closer, following quickly with Crawl and My Party, the latter a particular highlight. The rather more up-tempo Molly Chambers followed and all thoughts of anyone sitting down was long forgotten.
That is the interesting thing with a seated gig, particularly one of KOL's ilk - you simply don't want to use your seat. Some interesting happenings took place beside the railing where the seats tapered to the floor, as the entire row were told to sit down for the first few songs. An almighty row broke out between one couple and the security guards when they refused to sit down, all of which took place in front of Hot Press editor Niall Stokes, who tried peering around the arguement, much to our amusement! The couple got evicted, and lo and behold another couple took their place, and proceeded to stand for the rest of the gig. Yes, I am as confused as you.
Anyway, the rest of the gig was a demonstration as to why this band are the biggest in the world today, mixing as they were old classics (Milk, 18, Four Kicks) and newer - admittedly more mainstream but still - potential classics (Use Somebody, Cold Desert, Knocked Up) finishing with a strong four track encore.
The highlight? The crystal clear sound. Superb. Roll on Dylan etc in the new year. Oh, and U2.
