Article by Marzia Picciano | Photo by Claudia Mazza
THE Kings of Leon they are a peculiar phenomenon. And, like all subjects belonging to the category, they live with that constant contradiction which can be resolved more diplomatically in the perfect phrase of nonsense “either you love them or you hate them”. Who was yesterday at Milan Fair for their return after nine years in Italy (and an attempt last year which failed due to the cancellation of the date of Lido di Camaiore due to the injury of the frontman, Caleb), for the only Italian date, he is in the category of those who obviously love, above all loved and even today, like a couple accustomed to the ups and downs of long-distance love, they show up for the date because that's how it's done.
Also because, how can you explain in a few words how the four Followills (the brothers Caleb Followill, Ivan Nathan Followill And Michael Jared Followill together with their cousin Matthew Followill, literally: a band that is a family affair) originally from Tenessee, Southern United States, church and alcoholism, epicenter of country and everything that is sweet and flayed (because the rough sweetness of ruined things is undeniable), they put together a band that sells first and foremost in the UK, and from the UK they reach the world.
A journey made while always remaining in that sweet and flayed placenta, but not without discontinuity, moving from an almost grunge alternative to the most perfect of stadium setlists which cost them the criticism of those who saw them as failed promises of the US alternative, and international consecration even from the most bored housewives of Voghera. In general, when you win four Grammys, that's kind of what happens.
It's the economy, stupid? As someone says, it is difficult to resist the market, but also in the niche we risk dying, and in the past, and in glory, and in a Grail that increasingly becomes an unattainable tortoise. And there pretty good crowd collected in the space of concrete and sweat of Milan Fair (not a sold out, but it's not the first case we've seen) that Caleb looks smugly is a bit proof of that necessary attachment to things, to songs which ultimately belong to everyone and no one. From their latest album, Can We Please Have Fun? two years have passed, there's no promotion here, it's really a playlist-like gathering of feelings. Essential, and always very flayed. And sweet.
Introduced into an infinite sunset (and record heat, going to concerts now has the same heart attack risk thrill as a hyrox session) from Stephanie Widmer And Alexander Köck aka the Austrian duo Dear Dearauthors of a DIY psych rock perfectly understandable by a heterogeneous audience (and certainly exhausted by the insane logic of token queues, there is a circle in hell for those who design them) even if in some live passages even more similar to gods The Brian Johnston Massacre without acids (in the body, I say), at 9 pm the world falls Caleb and relatives are on stage to attack with Slow Night, So Long.
No frills, or greetings, they will arrive later with a hasty this is Kings of Leon, thanks for coming and a few words between one piece and another, the memory (or much less) of a past presence and down there preaching between spotlights, essential visuals and when necessary, evocative enough (like the white shadows and twilights of Closer); a system of videos on the different members of the band, which in addition to providing the urgent dynamism to a band with a heavy cast, actually confirmed my total love and sympathy for Nathan, in white gloves on the drums. Not that i Kings of Leon have always been great communicators (indeed, they are capable of dissing equal to the level of Meloni-Trump resentment), but let's leave song lovers the joy of finally being able to hear pieces like On Call, Radioactive, Use Somebody, Supersoaker, Wait For Meetc. Or for me to jump on whoever was around me Waste A Moment.
Because the theme with bands like Kings of Leon is that insane, perfectly understandable affection or love that is created with specific songs of theirs. Say that Sex On Fire what hasn't been the band's curse and delight is to limit ourselves to looking at only part of the story. But how to explain what happens when you're all waiting there to see it played?
Caleb also has an extremely recognizable tone of voice, which makes a piece by Kings of Leon always a piece by Kings of Leon (even if you do it without the rest of the band, if you dare), a bit like what happens with Eddie Vedder, but without the aura of mysticism and fanaticism that chases the leader of Pearl Jam. A quite deadly combination that makes a Kings live quite a unique experience, incredibly heartfelt (and you, man in linen shirt and capri cap in the pit engaged in the most theatrical of playbacks of Radioactiveyou are exactly the plastic representation of what I mean, and thank you), did I already say flayed?
In addition to the combos of elements mentioned above that perhaps will turn up their noses in certain rock purists committed to constantly renewing themselves so as not to always please everyone, there is something that strikes and hooks in the band's production, perhaps truly the most reviled of musical strategies: always finding the way, be it a note or a vocal intonation, for that thin line that separates the rational structure and opens the way to the unconscious. A very powerful glitch that suddenly projects us onto another plane of the emotional parallels that run through us. Well, there are pieces like Closer (hypnotic even in such a distracting live performance), Pyro (anticipated by a silence of chords on stage) and even more recent pieces inspired by more synthesized sounds such as Seena little pearl from their latest album, who know how to introject a sound to a non-immediate memory. And since then we have been hooked, without the possibility of freeing ourselves.
Even though there were still nine very long years to go, the concert on June 20th began to be a necessity, especially for those who built specific moments of their lives on those songs and the Kings of Leon (that's how it is, get over it). There is no audience more gratifying than the one that is there to be there and not so much to see, in spite of the merciless heat stigmatized with ironic casualness by that Hot As Fever that stands out at the end, and of many other things that this Milanese summer that has just begun is bringing us, for better or for worse.
Click here to see photos of Kings of Leon in concert in Milan or browse the gallery below
KINGS OF LEON – The setlist of the Milan concert
Slow Night, So Long
Waste a Moment
Find Me
On Call
Radioactive
The Bucket
Revelry
Manhattan
Use Somebody
Wait for Me
Split Screen
Closer
Molly's Chambers
Raz
MyParty
Supersoaker
Fans
Back Down South
Seen
Pyro
Black Thumbnail
Encore:
To Space
Knocked Up
Sex on Fire
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM
