Kings of Leon @O2, Jun 2009

About a month and a bit ago I received a phone call from my significant other asking if we would accept unwanted tickets to the Kings of Leon gig at the O2 London. Knowing full well times are tough, money is tight and the depression is lurking, I said "Buy them! Buy them NOW!". I've heard great things about the Leon's; on the night, they didn't disappoint. As you would expect (or possibly not) their set was consistent and true their sound. It consisted of favourite crowd pleasers alongside recently released material -- unheard by my ears. I didn't familiarise myself with the Leon's music before I went -- since the last time I gave the disk a spin on my marantz was back in 2008 – I was concerned that their music was transitional and forgetful. How wrong could I’ve been! Each track sounded like a familiar rock classic. Though the lyrics were hard to decipher from Tennessee drawl to English, I still found myself lip synching to what I think the lyrics should have been: “A-ha, said hey.. no room for meeee, yeah….!!!” *whistle *whistle* *clap hands to beat* The Venue; O2 London; 5 word review: F&*£ Off and Die O2!! I wonder which “corporate suit” didn’t stop autofellating long enough to think to themselves that closed circuit broadcasting should be used to broadcast the spectacle on stage, not piss-poor amateur visuals riddled with hexagonal, pentagonal, square and rectangle shapes; kitsched up by putrid colours and pathetic visuals; looking like they were rendered by a colour blind, retarded juveniles with turrets syndrome. At one stage a pink motif was unleashed on the tele-prompter flashing an incoherent female face. Sweet heavenly Geebus, why have a 20 grand camera on a cairn floating around the stage if you not gonna broadcast the band? This might not be a 100,000 person festival but keep in mind that the O2 has a capacity of over 20,000. Which brings me to my next O2 pet hate: layout! Our tickets were seated, directly opposite the stage, roughly 100m (approx. 300 imperial feet). I would like to think that this is where Jesus would sit if he had hawk eyes. Bottom balcony, front row N, overlooking gods creation and at least a 5000 man strong mosh pit. In which the corporate f£$% heads decided to place the sound technician booth. This meant that the upper horizontal line of vision was inundated by shit produced by my lower horizontal line of vision. More disturbingly is all those people in the general admission (mosh pit) who are stuck behind the booth. I know this feeling all too well. Is it necessary? Probably not! Don’t get me wrong the sound was stupendous; the base made my larynges tap, but my vision was limited by the sheer distance and worse polluted by fuckwits incharge of visuals. The support band was Galsvegas. A band I know little off, other than their Welsh heritage and appearance on Never Mind the Buzzcocks. I personally think the Welsh should produce more music and less rugby players prone to eye gauging and jawbreaking by renegade Saffas’. My bottom line is: if you come across Leon tickets and you haven’t seen them don’t hesitate buy, you won’t be disappointed. If it’s at an O2 venue, make sure you are in good view of the band (othewise it might be an abortion like my BRMC experience at O2 Oxford). And if friends offer to sell them to you – accept! No matter what the seat. And if they realised they made a terrible mistake and are cheeky enough to ask for the tickets back, don’t be shy tell them to “gently go f*&% themselves.” Zorak, Coast 2 Coast