Kings of Leon sauntered on stage, with a swagger and a confidence that I have never seen in them the few times I’ve seen them on stage. This truly marked the reign of the new Kings. Cruising into ‘Crawl’, the Entertainment Centre in Sydney’s CBD lit up and the crowd exploded. It was a new crowd too – younger, with many, many, many more ladies in the crowd and they were all genuinely excited, which is totally refreshing.
How do you follow up a heavy bass driven tune like “Crawl”? You throw in a classic from the back catalogue. ‘ Taper Jean Girl’ got the mosh heaving up and down and the crowd on its feet, which really wasn’t too hard - the crowd was out of their seats all night! The Kings pushed through the tracks efficiently and the 90 minutes seemed to just disappear, leaving myself and CB wanting more. Sadly for CB, they didn’t play his favourite tune ‘Soft’ which left him a little devastated but the encore was worth the wait, with the band we were treating us to ‘Charmer’, ‘Knocked Up’ and 'Manhattan'.
The Kings were a new band last night, with a whole new attitude. They played their best bits of their best songs to the best crowd. The boys treated us to a greatest hits collection and its something they should be proud of. In fact, if I wasn’t so poor I’d go running back to see them tonight. From the class of 2003, which featured The Strokes & Franz Ferdinand, these guys were the first to sell out stadiums and headline Glastonbury. Based upon last night’s performance, its easy to see why.
VB
Pic Source: Triple M
Month or so late album review #1 - Tonight: Franz Ferdinand
0 comments Posted by TwoBears at 4:17 PMHello all you TwoBears readers!
In the interests of laziness, here is the first "month or so late album review". First off the rank is Franz Ferdinand's Tonight: Franz Ferdinand.
The Glasgow based band have held a coveted position as revolutionaries of rock, and have always prided themselves on the ability of making music for "girls to dance to." Their debut, self titled, effort had a stream of hits that found a huge and different fan base. The second album, You Could Have It So Much Better was well received, although a different direction was definitely being pushed. Personally, I love the second album - particularly the far from dancy Eleanor Put Your Boots On.
The third album shows a band that is comfortable enough in its ability to make good music that they have taken some risks, the vast majority of which have worked. Tonight is the most appropriate name for this album; the tracks take the listener through one long, sometimes seedy, sometimes romantic, and always rollicking night out with the Franz Ferdinand boys.
The album has clearly been crafted with live performances in mind, and speaking from the experience of having seen them break out Ulysses at the Falls Festival, this is a very good thing for those lucky enough to see a guy by these guys.
The first three songs of the album (Ulysses, Turn It On, No You Girls) set the pace for the album, and reveal just how much rockier the band has become for this outing - driving electric guitar riffs dominate in the tracks in the same way that they stood out in Take Me Out.
In the months leading up to the release of the album, Franz released Lucid Dreams. The track of the same name on the album bears very little resemblance to the single, and at first listen I thought this was something of a mistake. However, having had a month (see I knew there was logic in my tardiness!) to listen and re-listen to the album, this track has come way up the list to become my favourite track behind Ulysses. It is psychedelic and takes you on a journey that suits the title name, and the electro ending (from 4:30 onwards) is incredibly different from anything the boys have ever done, and I think it really works.
Tonight: Franz Ferdinand is another success for the band, and has given them a handful more dance hits to wow crowds with at gigs. Come back soon boys!
Ulysses - Franz Ferdinand
CB
Welcome back, so CB did alright picking some of the top songs of the year, here a are mine.
I think its safe to say my picks got crushed , anyway , its always a good day hanging out and listening to the countdown.
1. Booka Shade - Charlotte – (Didn’t make top 100)
2. Chemical Brothers - Midnight Madness - (Didn’t make top 100)
3. Cold War Kids - Something is Not Right With Me - (38)
4. Franz Ferdinand - Lucid Dreams - (Didn’t make top 100)
5. Kings Of Leon - Sex on Fire - (1)
6. Ladyhawke - Paris is Burning – (26)
7. MGMT - Electric Feel – (2 )
8. Presets - Yippyo - (56)
9. Sparkadia - Too Much To Do - (Didn’t make top 100)
10. Ting Tings - Not My Name - (9)
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