The production was scant - too much gear cluttered the Bowl’s grandiose stage, giving a haphazard appearance to the performance’s backdrop. Read more Kings of Leon Drummer Injured in Tour Bus Accident, Concert Postponed Clocking in at less than two hours and 23 songs, KOL’s set was aptly constructed for these fervent fans, balancing older and newer hits and leaving few pauses or moments of silence between them.
And the audience, luckily, feels no boredom for the material at all. Still, the group, which has six albums under its collective belt, has earned a faithful following, one who cheers no matter how much it seems like the Followill clan has grown bored of playing songs like “Use Somebody” and “Sex On Fire” for the umpteenth time. So at times during KOL’s concert at the Hollywood Bowl Friday night there was a sense of dramatic posing, like when guitarist Matthew Followill performed much of “Closer” with his guitar strings in his mouth as Jared Followill jauntily leaned his bass off his hip, arms flexing under a tight white tee-shirt. The Tennessee band, currently finishing a headlining run in support of 2013’s tepid effort Mechanical Bull, has evolved from a homegrown Southern rock outfit to a radio-ready act, aiming for different sorts of accolades than when they first started.
There is a fine line between showmanship and posturing, and Kings of Leon sometimes find themselves slipping too far towards the latter.