Kings of Leon at the 'Les Inrocks' festival
La Cigale, Paris, 7 November 2004
Review Snapshot:
The festival 'Les Inrocks' in Paris, headlined by those
young Americans, The Kings of Leon. An Irish fan travels many miles for a
disappointing gig...
The
CLUAS Verdict?
5 out of 10
Full review:
Having made a rather late and somewhat drunken arrival to La Cigale for
Les Inrocks festival, I was gutted to find out that Radio 4 had cancelled and
would not be playing. The crowd, however, are already in a frenzy - an unusual
sight in Paris where the audiences are usually pretty reserved.
Bloc Party take to the stage and things get pretty manic. It would appear the
French have just discovered crowd surfing, with grown men scrambling on stage to
dive back off it again, bewildering the stage crew who are frantically trying to
protect the band. It's a shame really as Bloc Party proceed to play an appalling
set of middle of the road art rock crap and deserved more then a threat of
invasion from the crowd.
But the French are oblivious to the banality of the tunes and writhe, scream and
party like it's 1999. Bless 'em. Singer Kele Oreke sings out of tune for the
most part, with some of the worst lyrics I have ever had the misfortune to hear,
but you have to admire his immaculate pronunciation. Guitarist Russell looks
bored out of his mind, kept consciousness only by the fascinating sight of the
stage crew fighting a losing battle with the audience who manage about 15 stage
invasions throughout their set. Drummer Matt Tong is the only redeeming feature
and looks like he's going to spontaneously combust. He throws himself off the
stage at the end of the gig to crowd surf for 10 minutes before Kele asks
meekly, "Can we have our drummer back now please?" Rock'n'roll.
After a short interval the Kings of Leon take to the stage. They play an
engaging set made up of new and old material. The new songs fit in seamlessly
and have the same verve and energy as the old. The band doesn't appear to be in
their usual form though, bar Caleb, who seems overwhelmed that the crowd is
being as enthusiastic as they are. "We thought you guys were gonna be so dry" he
says in a Southern drawl "what's happened to you?" He seems to be really
enjoying himself while the others are nonchalant.
'King of the Rodeo' and 'Taper Jean Girl' are both disappointing, the rhythm changes
are sloppy and the lead guitar keeps falling out of tune. The band doesn't seem
to notice. 'Pistol of Fire' and 'Razz' however are unleashed in a manic fashion,
coming across taut with nervous energy, in a manner that the Kings do best.
'Milk' is the highlight of the set. Caleb's vocals are perfect, soaring and
pained. It's a welcome respite from the pounding guitar and offers a breather to
the crowd to gather their thoughts before losing their minds again to an amazing
version of 'Tranny'. 'Red Morning Light' loses its' rhythm again, badly and the
guitar is once more out of tune. It's the first time I've ever seen them play
where they've sounded like they hadn't rehearsed in months.
'California Waiting' and 'The Bucket' pick things up a bit but it's perhaps too
little too late, as the band leave the stage in a flurry of looking like they've
somewhere better to be. Which, as it turns out, is the bar next door.
Dromed
Check out a CLUAS review of Kings of Leon's EP'Holy Roller Novocaine'
