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Review & setlist: Kings of Leon asks ‘Can We Please Have Fun,’ and MGM crowd answers ‘yes’
Kings of Leon's music would never be described as fun — but they kind of seemed like they were having fun Monday.
Kings of Leon, with Phantogram, at MGM Music Hall at Fenway, Sept. 16, 2024
Kings of Leon lead singer Caleb Followill told the crowd of roughly 5,000 at MGM Music Hall at Fenway that he was worried about playing Boston on a Monday. He didn’t expect much of a reception.
He needn’t have worried.
An hour or so into the non-stop two-hour show, Caleb said he wasn’t joking earlier.
“We were not expecting you guys to be this good,” he said to the at-times raucous, yet otherwise chill crowd.
Fans assured the family band of their appreciation with an extended cheer and cat calls.
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It was the kind of affection that was given and received all night long.
The throng only needed to hear the first twangy notes of “Ballerina Radio” and they were cheering before lead singer Caleb Followill even stepped out on stage in his cream-colored suit coat, mirroring the song’s video, where he sings alone with a Karaoke machine.
The band ping-ponged all night between cuts off their new “Can We Please Have Fun” album, for which their tour is named, and older hits like “The Bucket” off their 2004 album “Aha Shake Heartbreak,” and 2007’s “On Call” with Caleb’s wailing guitar.
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Produced by Kid Harpoon, who also stylized the likes of Harry Styles, “Can We Please Have Fun” is Kings of Leon’s ninth studio album.
The simple stage was lit up like the Fourth of July with lights that were at times so bright they left the band in silhouette, and me searching for sunglasses. Videographers dressed like caddies at The Masters occasionally swarmed the stage, shooting close-ups of various hands at work on guitar, bass, drums, and percussion, and displaying the images on giant screens that surrounded the stage.
For “M Television,” a cut off “Can We Please Have Fun,” hands dropped marker-scrawled lyrics behind the band, as if someone was making a presentation using an old-fashioned overhead projector.
Made up of Followill brothers Caleb, lead singer/rhythm guitar, Jared on bass, and Nathan on drums/percussion, and cousin Matthew Followill on lead guitar, Kings of Leon is named for their grandfather … Leon. The family members, who have been playing together since 1999, hail from Tennessee and Mississippi, which is likely where they get their southern rock vibe — but don’t limit them with that label. They are southern rock with classic rock cool, indie rock nonchalance, and are even occasionally sweet in a garage band kind of way.
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As one critic noted, their music would never be described as fun — but they kind of seemed like they were having fun Monday, swinging easily from the decidedly country-meets-punk “Mustang” to the otherworldliness of “Electric Underworld,” which proved to be a good connection between the Kings and their opening act, Phantogram.
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A duo out of Greenwich, New York, Phantogram’s Sarah Barthel and Josh Carter started the evening with a tight 45-minute set of their own otherworldly kind of music. From “Pedestal,” a song Barthel said was, fittingly, about a baseball player, to “All A Mystery,” “Mr. Impossible,” and their brand new song “Happy Again,” it was easy to let the music wash over you in a dreamy, albeit head-banging kind of way. With swirling lights and strobe effects it was cinematic, and Barthel — in her zebra-striped blouse, spiked knee-high boots, and bright red hot pants — whirled through it anchored by Carter, who rarely moved at all.
The Followills also played off each other once the Kings came on, with some hard-rollicking guitar licks, crazy riffs and stellar percussions, but did not thrash. Flanked by Jared on bass and Matthew on guitar, Caleb stayed mainly center stage as lights, smoke, and later beach balls swirled around them all.
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That’s not to say they were motionless — they roamed like they played, tightly, seamlessly, effortlessly. And early in the show Caleb did move stage right, asking the crowd if they minded if he came their way to sing a song. They needed no encouragement to sing along with “Revelry.”
Later — after the band moved through “Walls,” with its thrumming bass beat that kept flawless time — Caleb moved stage left, one imagines only to keep the balance in their universe and to give that side their due. He launched into “Back Down South,” which got the sea of humanity clapping along.
The crowd — made up mostly of Gen Xers with a smattering of Boomers and Millennials mixed in — needed little encouragement to join in song, dance when prompted, and throw their hands in the air and sway when the lyrics called for it.
The band also offered a special treat with their Song for the City, a song they play exclusively for the city they’re in, and that no one elsewhere on the tour will hear. Kings of Leon offered up “I Want You” for Boston, which Caleb said he’d been told hadn’t been played since 2014, though he suspected it was longer than that.
After saying good night, which set one fan to chanting “one more song,” they (of course) came back, with Caleb finally coatless, for a three-song encore. They led off with “Rainbow Ball,” and swung smoothly into “Knocked Up,” which had everyone’s hands in the air because you couldn’t help but rock and bob in time with the relentless beat of Jared’s bass guitar. Then they closed the show with “Use Somebody.”
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If the band was seriously asking “Can We Please Have Fun,” then the answer Monday was unabashedly and affectionately, “absolutely.”
Setlist for Kings of Leon at MGM Music Hall at Fenway, Sept. 16, 2024
- Ballerina Radio
- The Bucket
- The Bandit
- On Call
- Manhattan
- Nowhere to Run
- Razz
- My Party
- Sex on Fire
- Revelry
- I Want You
- Pyro
- Mustang
- Molly’s Chambers
- Supersoaker
- Closer
Encore:
- Rainbow Ball
- Knocked Up
- Use Somebody
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