When I saw Kings of Leon in October 2007, they were playing at the small New Haven rock club Toad's Place. I blogged about the experience, and about KOL here. Now that they're selling out Madison Square Gardens I don't think they'll every play a couple hundred tiny gig like that again. Well, the opening band that night from Atlanta was pretty compelling even though they only played for about 20 minutes. After one song, I leaned over to Jason, the guy I was with at the concert, and said, "If I didn't know better I'd say that song was about God. Sort of the Prodigal son." The lead singer was compelling and a bit off-very intense and sporting a big beard.
Well, as I was looking through my new Paste magazine, I ran across the article "The Thinkers" that reviews the new album "Mean Everything To Nothing" by Manchester Orchestra. And it was them. This is that band, I thought, smiling. And they ARE all on about the big questions, including God. In the first song on the album, lead singer Andy Hull sings "I am the only son of a pastor I know who does the things I do."
Check them out. Paste gave their new album a 91. In the same issue they gave U2's No Line on the Horizon a 62. I like Paste because they look for and give props to the new and edgy. Rolling Stone, on the other hand, has a cover story on Kings of Leon, as if they're 'new on the scene' and edgy. No, they've made it. They're huge.
Happy Saturday to all.
Anon and peace,
Chris
Their video for "I've Got Friends" is available for free download on iTunes this week!
Posted by: Jeni Grangaard | April 25, 2009 at 09:51 PM