Kings of Leon: Mommies Night Out

I have actually seen Kings of Leon.. five times before last night's concert, which was my sixth. Sadly, I only blogged about three of them and you can see those here, here,  (that one was my FAVORITE) and here. So when I heard about them going on tour to promote their newest album WALLS, I wanted to go REALLY badly.

Sadly, I am poor. I knew there wasn't any way I could buy tickets.

My friend Jennie wanted to go and we had a collective moment of sad because I'm poor. I had seen Kings of Leon twice before with her, so clearly it was even more sad.

SUDDENLY!

She texted me and said to mark my calendar because we were going! I'm like, WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, I'M POOR?!?!?! (I may have even used shouty caps on text). She informed me that someone anonymously paid for my ticket so I could go. She wouldn't tell me who, or give me any hints (she's like a VAULT, I tell you!) so whoever did that:

Thank you. I really can not tell you what that means to me. I would have been really bummed out to miss Kings of Leon coming so near me and I really appreciate that you helped me go. It was a GREAT night with one of my friends. 

Sigh. Really, the only bright spot since having an AFE is seeing the good in so many people. I am really grateful that I have so many kind and loving people in my life.

So we went. She drove because I am not supposed to be driving at night and I was surprised at how much I remembered- like I remembered where to park, where the restaurants were, how to get back onto the highway (kind of). It was surprising. I'm trying to push myself to remember because I know it's all in my head, I just have to figure out how to get it out of there when I need it!

Before the concert we went and had dinner across the street and I don't remember eating there before. The local radio station was there to hype up the concert so we put our names in to win prizes, specifically the tickets for the suite box to view the concert. My name actually got called and I had to pick an envelope and by this point there were only 5 envelopes to pick from. I didn't win tickets, instead I won a water bottle. Which is still cool, something I can use, right?

After a messy dinner we walked back across the street to get into our seats. Once we got there we walked the entire circumference of the Xcel Energy Center and could not find the stairs to go up, since we were in the balcony. A very nice employee informed us we had to get our tickets exchanged because they had to rearrange things, so we went to the other side and found the exchange area. Turns out, our seats were UPGRADED and we ended up having really great seats!  These would have been significantly more money but we didn't get charged and that was a really cool surprise.

Me and Jennie, right after the opening band (Dawes) played. They were OK, probably not something I'd rush out and get the album but they weren't terrible.

Around 8:30 Kings of Leon took the stage.

 Some observations, Caleb looked amazing. As usual. He's my favorite.

Matthew has lost a LOT of weight and his pants were too short.

Nathan looked SO rough and they didn't really close up on him much except for once and I was taken aback at how swollen and kind of awful he looked. Jared.. we have to talk about Jared. He has bleach blond hair and was wearing white skinny jeans and what looked like heeled boots. I just.. his wife must hate him because who lets that kind of thing happen? It needs to be stopped.  Some kind of intervention needs to happen because that look isn't good on anyone.

They played a few songs off their latest album, WALLS, but obviously the favorites were from all of the previous albums. I'm not loving the WALLS album but there are a couple of favorites on there. 

One of my favorite things about KOL is that they are really terrific live. Easily one of the best live bands I have ever seen. They play their instruments, Caleb's voice has a perfect gravel which, by the end of their 2.5 hour set, was sounding hoarse. 

Caleb did mention at one point that they only have a few shows left of this tour and you could tell they were tired, but they played all of the favorites. They played just about 2.5 hours, which is so great because you know you will get your money's worth at a KOL concert. 

Their stage set up changed a few times, the screen artwork was strange but interesting, and they all interacted with each other,  which they kind of lost on their last tour.

Overall? Amazing. I definitely did not want it to end. I decided that one of my bucket list items is to get VIP meet and greet tickets on one of their tours. I know I'd maybe have to sell a kidney but it would be worth it. Their albums are the soundtrack to so much of my life.

I'm going to leave you with one of the songs that make me cry every time I hear it. This wasn't from the show I saw, but instead from 2014 Lollapalooza.

"Jesus don't love me. No one ever carried my load. I'm too young to feel this old." 

And then I'm going to share their cover of one of my favorite songs, Robin's Dancing On My Own

And finally! The best cover of Sex on Fire performed by Macy Gray. 

Sigh. I miss the Followill boys already. 

Kings of Leon. Swoon.

Remember way back in March when I went on a hilariously amazing birthday road trip with my blogger friend Shirley and we were mutually thankful the other wasn't secretly an old man pervert who spends his weekend as a serial killer? 

Yes, it was great. But what made it great is that we both love Kings of Leon and so we went to see them. It was amazing. 

I love the Kings of Leon boys so much. So much so that if any of them were like, "Hey Sara- we left our wives and we want you to leave your husband and be like, our group wife and like, come with us everywhere because you're so awesome and pretty." I'd honestly have to chuck deuces at Matt and go. And I feel that way if this were Robert Downey, Jr., Robert Pattinson, Channing Tatum and the list really goes on. I'm totally upfront with Matt because I choose to be optimistic in life and so it's best to just be prepared. 

And even though I had to sit next to some super dirty guy who kept wolfing down cheese curds and peanuts with cheap beer and the smell of that on top of the fact he hadn't showered in a few days? It was a really great concert. 

Shirley and I were both upset that I did not own my minivan anymore or own a human trafficking/rapist van. (Because we all know rapist vans are the conversion vans with windows and human trafficking vans have no windows.) (We saw a lot of both of those near Rockford, Illinois and I think there is a hub around there for such activity.)

The best part about Kings of Leon is they are what I refer to as a "panty dropper band". That means depending on the song, the first chords will make any woman worth her salt drop her panties. If a band can't do that, they need to go home. 

I'm going to be honest though. Caleb? Honey. We need to talk about the hair plugs. I know your current wife is a super model and super gorgeous, but don't you change. Don't you let her tell you your early baldness is anything but amazing. I would love you even with baldness. 

I honest to god don't know how much money I have spent on Kings of Leon merchandise, music and concert tickets. Not to mention the cost of driving to their concerts. I've got to be in the thousands of dollars at this point. It's ridiculous and I couldn't stop myself even if I wanted to. But they are so incredibly great live and they sound exactly like they do on their albums. I know I get heat when I say if you sound nothing like your album when I see you live, I'm not a fan anymore. But it really is true, I think a real artist doesn't need all of the modifications that go into making an album now and it really isn't talent to use auto tune and the like. Kings of Leon are just really great and I'll drive anywhere to see them. Heart you boys. 

Kings of Leon. Minus Bird Poop.

So after MONTHS (seriously- since March) of waiting....finally I went to Chicago to see my lovers, Kings of Leon. First off, I can't even tell you how much I love KOL because all of you would be here for days and by the end you would wish I permanently lost my voice or that my fingers would just seriously fall off already. Because I could go on for days about them, their music, and their talent. So please, hit play to your right to rock the hell out with me.

So I'm going to post more about the rest of the weekend tomorrow, but I seriously felt like this concert deserved it's very own post. The concert was actually held in Tinley Park in the amphitheatre there- which to be honest, made me nervous. Two reasons: number one being our seats were in row ZZ out of MMM and two, all of the reviews of the venue that I read Friday night were awful. I kept reading about poor sound quality and that sucks. But seriously- nothing would prevent me from going to KOL.

Jennie and I, pre-concert 

At the concert we realized our seats were fucking awesome. Almost in front of the stage, just enough back that we could see AND we had cover over our heads. This would come to be pretty damn important about an hour into the show.

Me and Kelly, pre-concert

Two opening bands played, The Stills and Built to Spill. I had only heard maybe two songs from each band prior so I didn't really know what to expect. Usually this is fine because I've discovered a lot of bands I love by them being opening acts so I am always there early to catch them. I feel like a lot of opening acts don't get the credit they deserve when really, they want it just as bad as the headliner.

The Stills were good. They seem new, they seem like they are trying to find their performing niche so to speak, but they were pretty good. Good enough that I'd like to hear more from them.

Built to Spill sucked so fucking badly I felt like my ears were going to bleed. Seriously, I was one step away from covering my ears and hiding under my seat saying, "Mommy make it stop" because that band? WOULD.NOT.STOP. Seriously. Nobody was feeling them. Hardly any clapping was happening between songs. The singer either had an abnormally large tongue, a speech impediment, or was drunk as fuck because everything was slurred. They had to start a bunch of songs over, and really? Save yourself the embarrassment.

I'm sad you can't really see this. But the tragedy is not just her unfortunate shorts, but her legs? Looked like they had a herpes outbreak. Seriously. It was disgusting. They were all red and rash like. DISGUSTING.

AND we got to sit behind the fat family. Yup. The mom? Had afro hair and I couldn't see around her. The dad who wouldn't just sit the fuck down (seriously- he was forever getting up to get them all food and drinks) was so sweaty and fat. So he would fan the sweat from his hair onto us. DISGUSTING. And they kept eating these hamburgers that smelled like ass and then proceeded to fart all night. Oh- and the teenage girls? Had skirts so short I'm pretty sure we saw vag.

In the middle of the Built to Spill set my dear, dear bestie Mr. O texts me about the KOL concert in St. Louis. And the bird poop. And because I don't watch the news and hadn't been in touch with the internet since 5am on Friday, I had no idea what he was talking about and thought he was messing with me. Coincidentally- he wasn't.

Jennie and I waiting for KOL. It was 99 degrees and 100% humidity. Goodbye makeup. So glad we spent time on you.

When KOL came out obviously everybody started losing their shit.

HEY! It's me with really bizarro lighting and pigtails!

Anyways, so they opened with "Crawl" which is just a good opening song. One thing about KOL is that they? Are so incredible live that I am willing to say they are better live than they are on an album. Don't get me wrong- I have all of their cd's and know the words by heart. I can listen to any of their songs and immediately feel the emotions behind it. But they are true musicians. They don't need auto tune. They don't need machines and shit to make them sound good. They work at it until they perfect it on their own. And that? Is a real rock band.

But at about five songs in, Caleb says, "Well- we made if five songs so far", no doubt in reference to the bird poop incident in which they had to leave after three songs. (Which seriously- I don't blame them. That is fucking disgusting and Caleb is a germaphobe. I think big props to him for even going out because I certainly wouldn't have. Grossness.) And like right on cue- the rain started. Along with thunder and lightning. It was AMAZING. I like rain storms anyways and the scarier the better, but this was just awesome to see. I did feel bad for the assholes on the lawn but not for long because the wind switched and then we were getting drenched. Which was actually fine because it was so mother fucking hot outside.

To which Caleb says, "We'll keep playing until the birds start shitting."

Oh Caleb- I heart you. *swoon*

Anyways. So they played hard. I started to get jealous about the bitches on the lawn because guess what? It is REALLY hard to rock out when you have a super heavy purse on you. And are in narrow aisles that slant downward. Because that? Has broken ankle written all over it. But I did at a few points. I had to risk possible ankle injury because this concert was worth it. I called two friends during "Sex on Fire" because if you could been there? ELECTRIC. I love the sound of an entire crowd drowning out the band while singing. They did it during "Sex on Fire" and obviously again on "Use Somebody". Surprise sing along of the night? "Knocked Up". I love that song anyways, but I am surprised at how many people sang along to it because nobody knew it at the Minneapolis concert this fall. Shame. I was also surprised that I appeared to be the only one anywhere around me to know "Molly's Chambers" and "Fans". What the hell, people?! I will say for the record that "Molly's Chambers" is in my top 5 of favorite KOL songs and also one of the top three of their songs that seriously will get me hot and bothered. A lil Sara Fun Fact for ya.

OK, so after the encore performance it was REALLY raining. And I mean REALLY raining. Anybody on the lawn were so far gone drenched they were in no rush. For those of us who were only wet on our backs we wanted to stay a little more dry but it wasn't happening. It took us maybe 20 minutes to get from our seats to my van in which we arrived totally soaked. Soaked beyond soaked. It was so worth it. My bra was retaining water. My shoes were retaining water. My underwear was soaked. My jeans were so wet I had a hard time getting them off.

Annoying thing- when venues don't have traffic control and make exits a free for all. With the ridiculous amount in fees we pay just to see a concert you think they could at least get a rent-a-cop or something. It took us a really long time to get out of the parking lot.

So here's me when we got back to the hotel. My hair had started to dry and my shirt was stinky. Makeup is gone. Yucky.

All in all? Fantastic fucking concert. Probably the best concert I've ever been to? Yes- definitely would say that. Muse is going to be a close second, but Kings of Leon put on a great show. I think they had about 20-25 songs in their set and even though Caleb mentioned having a sore throat and haggard vocal chords, you never would have known it. They rocked it out and they rocked it hard. They interact just enough but they are there to play for you and that's what they do. Their set looked great (my camera sucks so fucking bad- all my pics are blurry. Sorry.), they had a little bit of pyro, they had a million screens so no matter where you were you were seeing the band. And even though you know a lot of time and money goes into these shows, to me, it still felt like you were seeing a band on the edge of being discovered. Like the last stop before they make it huge. That? Is talent. I think it just confirms that they are still in touch with their fans, they are there to perform and make great music- not to indulge in all of the excesses that eat a band up. True musicians. I wish there were more of them.

Kings of Leon- one word, AMAZING

Hey yall- for those of you living in the dark, (or not on my Facebook) you maybe had no idea what a huge Kings of Leon fan I am. :) And if you aren't- I feel sorry for you. Amazing band, amazing talent, and pure love of music sums up this band.

Me and my friends, all mothers in need of a night away from home, decided we'd do a concert. And because we all work and the concert was almost 3 hours away we had to really make a day/evening/early morning of the next day of it. :) We left Superior aroudn 2:30 and after MANY stops because everyone else has bladders the side of plum we got to Minneapolis around 5:30. We ate dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe and one word for that= disappointing. Tammy and I ordered this chicken with a spicy version of macaroni & cheese. Mine was shitty as hell, too spicy, and even though my chicken tasted terrific, about an hour into the concert I knew something wasn't quite right. And by this I mean I started feeling dizzy, weak, having cold sweats and the urge to vomit was pretty bad. Thankfully, everyone in the row below us was drunk so had I puked, I doubt they would have known. :)

The opening band was White Lies, who hailing from London, England must be new. That, or I don't get out much which let's be honest- could be a toss up. They were OK. Not great, not bad. I think they are new to the American music scene which I think is intimidating for any new band. They didn't connect with the crowd and I'm sure it's because hardly anyone was in there. But I would definitely check out their record because what I did hear was pretty good.

Kings of Leon. *Swoon*. OK, so these guys aren't what you'd call the pretty boy group. They are not super hot, but they are like the attainable boy next door working a shitty job hot. I dig that. But it must be said that they put on a GREAT show and I would no doubt see them anytime I can. They rocked out with their cocks out, despite being sick (Caleb told the audience they’ve all got a touch of something and you could hear him sniffle between songs), and you could tell that they not only love playing love, but they love their music and the fans who so appreciate it.

They rocked one song after the other, transitions were great, good crowd interaction, and they did one encore with 4 songs. The other amazing thing that I absolutely love is when you go to a concert and everyone, especially those around you, know every word to every song. Those are true fans and should be the only ones allowed in a concert. :) And let me tell you- when "Sex On Fire" and "Use Somebody" came on- every person in the Target Center sang along, danced and genuinely was relishing in the moment. Amazing concert, amazing band.

I totally loved the blue. I am 99% sure this was during "OnCall"

I totally thought the black/white images of them playing was a cool contrast.

You can't see the stage good here, but they had these horizontal screens with images throughout the show. Very cool.


Caleb. :)

We had GREAT seats...AND I got to watch drunk chicks get hauled off. :)

The opening band, White Lies.


Who are those hot chicks? It's Tammy and Sara! We had a drunk guy (??) below us who thought we were the "hottest bitches here" and thank you- person we aren't sure if you are a guy or chick. The boobs threw us off.

My beloved VANS. Best concert shoes ever. Slip resistant to beer, good bottoms to ensure you won't fall when climbing over chairs...makes me yearn for my blue/black VANS from my outdoor festival days..


So we left the Target Center a little after midnight. Things I learned on the drive home:

1. I'm not a rock star anymore. Driving home at night is HARD.

2. If I didn't have my best girls with me, I would have been bored as hell.

3. Tobies in Hinckley still has awesome fucking baked goods.

4. I have the best friends ever.

I really think we need to plan another concert extravaganza. We could be the concert club. :) It was a great night out, and despite getting home at 2:30 a.m. (seriously girls...we are a bit old for this, eh??) it was so fun. Would do it again in a heartbeat. If KOL comes anywhere near here again...I am so there. :)