Kings of Leon at Marlay Park review: ‘I can’t wait to get back here and play another show for you’

Kings of Leon

Marlay Park, Dublin

★★★☆☆

Grey clouds hung over Marlay Park most of the day on Saturday, intercepted by a few surprisingly warm bursts of sun.

Not as warm as Nashville might be at this time of year, the hometown for the night’s main event, Kings of Leon.

The one-time Oxegen headliners have made a habit of outdoor and arena gigs here, and their newest album, Can We Please Have Fun, came out in May to a generally positive reception.

Opening the show was Cork band Cardinals. Roseland was the highlight of their set for its melodic accordion line and poetic lyrics. A broken string made little difference to singer and guitarist Euan Manning.

Keep an eye out for Cardinals in the future – they’re ones to watch after bagging such a big support slot.

After a set that channelled more than a bit of Pogues-like energy, they bowed out to make way for The War On Drugs. The Philadelphia synth rockers were in fine form fresh off the back of their own headline show in Belfast on Friday night.

“What a beautiful, beautiful evening here,” said frontman Adam Granduciel before they launch into Under The Pressure. The track’s hypnotic keyboard line and oscillating saxophone riff felt like natural accompaniments for an outdoor summertime gig on a warm evening.

After the usual short wait, the giant stage screens flickered on to a close-up of a cassette being loaded into a player, and the Tennessee band kicked off with Ballerina Radio.

Most of the crowd were slowly starting to loosen up but it took The Bucket, probably Kings of Leon’s catchiest song, to get them moving properly. The band’s polished playing is evident from the outset. Each member was perfectly at ease on their instrument, highlighted by drummer Nathan Followill casually blowing chewing gum bubbles during the song’s verses and most of the two-hour set.

Frontman Caleb Followill took a moment after Taper Jean Girl to apologise for the sound of his voice. Apparently there were some allergies he could feel in his throat affecting his vocals: “[My] voice sounds like sh*t … but we can all sound like sh*t together.”

To be fair, you had to listen closely to notice any real difference to the norm as they moved into Revelry.

The atmosphere in the crowd seemed somewhat up and down depending on the song, but Sex On Fire pulled them back in. Despite this being a song that was once very guilty of being very overplayed on the radio it’s still one that everyone should hear live at least once.

“I can feel the love and I thank you very much … I’m not gonna cut this show short,” said Followill, despite the apparent ongoing allergies.

A few rain drops fell as they played Pyro, another crowd favourite of the night, with some of the set’s best-looking stage graphics.

Followill told the crowd “we always look forward to shows in Ireland” before less than subtlety slotting the venue into the opening lines of Mustang, another catchy single from the new album.

The only out-of-the-ordinary thing on the night was the band stopping mid-song during Nowhere To Run when Followill spotted a crowd member on the ground but that’s just him being a responsible frontman.

“I can’t wait to get back here and play another show for you guys,” said Followill towards the end of the set. “Thank you for powering through with me.”

Waste A Moment and Use Somebody in the encore ended their set and brought out the night’s biggest vocal performances from the crowd.

It was a night that few in the crowd could complain about. A career-spanning set list undoubtedly left fans new and old more than pleased as they made their way home thanks to some of modern rock’s most well-known songs.