Album review - Kings of Leon 'Come Around Sundown'

Kings of Leon
‘Come Around Sundown’
(Sony)

THERE IS an argument that the Kings of Leon could be considered rock’s version of Wayne Rooney (indulge me here); substitute Croxteth for Tennessee; both were snarling, street-smart and dragged up by their bootstraps as youngsters; both subsequently had their heads turned with the price of money, fame and idolatry (substitute Paul Stretford for Bono as you wish); both threatened to be world-beaters, but have seen their careers level off in recent years.
Hang on, I hear you say, haven’t the Southern rockers sold truckloads of records more since they went mainstream? Yes is the answer, but at what cost?
I must admit to listening to this new Kings record - their fifth - with a heavy-heart. There is little to suggest that the four-piece have cast a knowing glance at their superb, world-beating back catalogue and tried to find out where they lost that urgent, adolescent, grubby rock and roll vibe and replaced it with bland, stadium rock anthems.
However, when you allow this record to sink in (rather grudgingly as a result), it starts to re-engage you; where the Kings have lost their Southern drawl, screeching guitars and dirty, scuzzy rhythms, they have replaced it with an album that is actually quite introspective, thought provoking and tender, in parts at least.
Gone from this offering, thankfully, are the woeful Sex on Fire/Use Somebody-type tracks of predecessor Only By The Night, and present are the brooding, oft-dark and rebellious The End and Radioactive; the grungy The Immortals, the serene Pyro.
A highlight is the lap-steel and violin driven Back Down South, full of handclaps and gospel choirs, cat-calls and back-slapping; while the brassy groove of Mi Amigo is superb.
They may not have hit the heights of yesteryear, but they have gone some way toward redeeming their careers on this offering - and may yet hit the back of the net again in the future. RATING 3/5

Oxegen 2009 review

The below piece from today's Limerick Chronicle..

Alan Owens

DESPITE apocalyptic weather predictions ahead of the Oxegen music festival that took place at the weekend, there was really only one serious period of sustained rainfall.

As New Jersey band The Gaslight Anthem - Bruce Springsteen’s favourite band - took to the stage on Saturday afternoon around 3pm, the rain began, coating the mammoth Punchestown site in a blanket of heavy swathes of rain, an incessant shower that remained until around 10pm.

However, as suddenly as it began, so it stopped, allowing the bulk of the 80,000 fans, plus movie-star Natalie Portman, to enjoy a headline set from Kings of Leon - their third show in Ireland in 12 months - while the remaining brave souls sampled the dark and delightfully lyrical wares Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds had on display on the O2 Stage.

The Australian troubadour was joined by Shane MacGowan for a masterful encore, but really impressed with tracks Midnight Man and Red Right Hand.

In that difficult, rain-filled period, Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Guy Garvey of Manchester band Elbow, tried valiantly to blast the rain away.

Elbow were resplendent in green ponchos, finishing their blistering set with the rather ironic One Fine Day, while a shower of confetti sprayed over the massive crowd.

Previously, on a bone dry and balmy Friday night, headliners Blur predictably drew one of the biggest crowds of the weekend.

In something of a coup for organisers MCD, the newly reformed band - who haven’t played together in six years - were fresh from gigantic gigs at Glastonbury and Hyde Park, and didn’t disappoint with a 24-strong set that encompassed all of their greatest hits, from opener She’s So High to epic closing track The Universal.

Elsewhere, the post-rock stylings of Mogwai seriously impressed, as did the mash-up skills of Swedish House Mafia and the heavy beat of Pendulum’s set. Even Snow Patrol weren’t too bad, enjoying a massive crowd for a large sing-along.

Cork band Fred opened proceedings on the massive Heineken Green Spheres stage at 2pm on Saturday, drawing a huge and appreciative crowd for a triumphant set. The band boast a Limerick member in bassist Jamin O’Donovan, who hails from Caherdavin Lawn and who spoke to the Limerick Chronicle backstage after the gig.

“The gig was brilliant, we were delighted with it,” said a happy looking O’Donovan.

“We did think, two o'clock Saturday afternoon, will there be 20 people out there - so we are absolutely delighted with it. We think we have found our niche, we think we have found what we like now, and that is playing big festivals,” laughed Jamin.

With a brass and string section backing up their set, the band drew thousands into massive tent, demonstrating why they are one of the finest Irish bands around at the moment.

Another Limerick man, Steve Melling, playing with well regarded band the 202’s, told the crowd that they “can only get wet once”, but at its height, the deluge took no prisoners - sending many running from its unforgiving nature.

Almost predictably, UK band Doves played one of the best sets of the weekend, the edgier material from recent album Kingdom of Rust sitting happily alongside their older material, with finale There Goes The Fear one of the highlights of the weekend.

Although Sunday was reasonably dry, the site had become something of a mud-pit due to the previous night’s rain.

However, Lady Gaga got some temperatures running high with a risqué show that left little to the imagination; the New York popstar strutting her stuff through various costume changes.

UK bands Friendly Fires and Foals played two of the sets of the weekend in the Green Spheres tent, while on the Main Stage mod band the Specials played together for the first time in 28 years - classic track Ghost Town wrapping up an impressive set.

Promoters MCD declared themselves happy with a weekend that saw crowds of almost 80,000 attend each night.

Local Limerick bus service Kelly Travel told the Chronicle that they ferried nearly 1,000 local music fans to and from Punchestown with absolutely no trouble and that they were “looking forward to next year already”.

Smiles all round then, just as long as the rain stays away entirely next year, we will be happy too.

Honourable mentions:

Fever Ray - the quirky Karin Dreijer Andersson (of Swedish group The Knife) played to about 100 people in the Dance Arena on Sunday afternoon. Why could she not have been scheduled for the picnic, where she'd play to a full field of appreciative listeners? Fab, quirky, scary show tho.

Howling Bells - Sydney shoegaze rock, great frontwoman in Juanita Stein (great name too).

The Chapters - great new Irish band, great new album in Perfect Stranger.

The Saw Doctors - Is there another Irish band that could play in the rain on the main stage and still get a massive crowd, singing and dancing and feeling good? N-17 was a popular one..

Not so much:

Kings of Leon - Lads, go away for a year or two and come back then, please..

The Gaslight Anthem - I think all that can be said about the New Jersey band is that Springsteen likes them. Everyone else was hanging around waiting for him to show up, a la Glastonbury.

Lady Gaga - Great look, choreography and decent pop songs, but just too over the top for this reviewer - trying waaayyy too hard for my liking.

Mud - Ok, not an act per se, but what is the story with lads diving headfirst into mud pools, wearing nothing but a pair of GAA shorts? Made me nearly lose my lunch several times..

Five things you may not have known about Oxegen but now you do:

5: There are 700 flags on site.

4: There are 250 food vans on site (that's a lotta food).

3: Dublin graffiti artist Maser did the various artworks that adorned those temporary walls people were pissing up against.

2: €1.5m was spent on erecting permanent roadways and thicker grass to soak up the rain, while €2 million was spent on security, gardaí and medics at this year's festival.

1: The view from the side of the main stage is very, very good - a bit like actually being on stage. The closest I'll ever get to performing in front of 40-50,000 people!!

Oxegen 2009 - kicks off this weekend..

Oxegen this weekend, looking forward to it - great line-up, good weather forecast etc. I'll be there all weekend, hope to get some stuff up on the blog, will be joining Spin South West for a chat at some stage, and will have a decent sized review in next week's paper.

By the way, we here in Leader towers have a new city paper out - a bumper edition of the Limerick Chronicle - the new weekly city paper for your delectation. Check it out, it's the biz..

Anyway, here's an Oxegen preview, from a fairly local perspective...

Alan Owens
THOUSANDS of local music fans are expected to make the annual pilgrimage to the Oxegen festival in Punchestown this weekend.
Local sources have said that the demand for tickets, both to the festival and to bus services travelling to Naas, has ramped up over the last few weeks.
Dave Jackson, owner of Empire Music on O’Connell Street, said ticket sales have been “very busy” in the last few weeks.
“Sales have been very busy in the last two weeks - it has really taken off,” said Dave.
“We had a near constant queue at the ticket desk last week and as many people were buying Oxegen tickets as were getting them for Rod Stewart - we sold a load today even. It is going to be busy right up until the weekend because the weather forecast is so good.”
Similarly, Pallasgreen based Kelly Travel - who will run shuttle buses to Punchestown from 7am this Thursday morning, said demand was unprecedented for the service. The company are the only the only officially licensed bus service in the area.
“We have been providing this service for years and it is definitely the busiest year - we can hardly handle the phones, it is an unprecedented level of demand,” said Tim Kelly.
“We have services going from 7am Thursday, every hour until 5pm and from 7am until lunchtime on Friday. The return buses will run every hour from midnight on Sunday night until the last bus at 9am on Monday morning,” added Tim.
The campsites in the Punchestown racecourse open this Thursday at 12 noon, with a packed three night schedule of live music beginning from 2pm on Friday afternoon.
Spin South West FM will be broadcasting on site from 9.45am on Friday morning until Sunday evening, airing over 30 hours of interviews, reports, tips and updates. Live 95FM’s Eleanor Fitzgerald will also be on site in Punchestown, providing plenty of coverage for local audiences. This year’s line-up is a contender for one of the strongest since the festival’s inception in 2004, before which it was previously known as Witnness.
A newly reformed Blur are set to attract a huge crowd when they headline on Friday night, as are heavyweights Snow Patrol, Kings of Leon and The Killers. Lily Allen, Bloc Party, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, The Specials and Pet Shop Boys are also set to play over the weekend.
For tickets contact Empire Music on 061-317211 or log onto www.ticketmaster.ie. Bus tickets are available from Kelly Travel on 061-384422.

Highlights:

Don’t miss: Blur (Main Stage, Friday, 23.10): David Holmes (Heineken Green Spheres, Friday 22.20): Elbow (Main Stage, Saturday 20.25): Doves (O2 Stage, Saturday 22.05): Yeah Yeah Yeahs (Main Stage, Saturday 18.55): The Specials (Main Stage, Sunday 19.05): Friendly Fires (Heineken Green Spheres, Sunday 17.15)

Avoid at all costs: The Script (Main Stage, Friday 19.35): Keane (O2 Stage, Friday 23.35): Razorlight (Main Stage, Sunday 20.35): Paolo Nutini (Main Stage, Sunday 17.45)

Reeking of overkill...

MCD have finally confirmed one of the worst kept secrets in music with the announcement that Kings of Leon are to headline Oxegen for the second year in a row, leading many to fall off their seats in excitement.. Ehh..

Seriously, what the ? They were good last year (I was there) and recently in the O2 (and there too) but three major gigs in the space of 12 months? And a second headline in a row? Come on now.

Meanwhile, over on the Hot Press website they are reporting a "world exclusive" that Snow Patrol and the Killers are to headline the other two nights of the monolith festival, which takes place this year from July 10-12. What a scoop.

Not the most innovative of line-ups, but it'll probably sell a bucket-load of tickets, so who cares what I think, eh?

Kings of Dublin...

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.

Living for the weekend

Loads happening at the weekend around town, here is a very quick run down, more detail to be had from the Limerick Leader website:

Fri:

Jack L in the Warehouse (not my cup of tea but the man can sing)

The Fewer The Better in Bakers (crash bang wallop, go on the lads)

Nu Killa Kru host an Xmas bash in the Underground

Sat:

Giveamanakick do Giveamanachristmas in Bakers (with Brian O'Brien of Roper fame)

Stone Roses Experience in the Warehouse

Sun:

Nick Carswell & The Elective Orchestra's Midwinter Xmas Xtravaganza, Upstairs in Dolan's (More detail on this to follow - free mulled wine and mince pies - I'm in)

In the meantime I'm off to Kings of Leon in the O2 tonight, woop! Pity about the name but I missed out on a media tour of the completely remodelled Point some time ago so can't wait to see if all the hype is justified. M83 play support (superb French electro-crazy outfit) and rumours still abound that U2 will feature at some point. Get in!