Kings Of Leon
– Live At The O2: London, England (2009/Sony Music Blu-ray)
Picture:
B- Sound: B Extras: D Concert: B-
With only
the faintest hint of Country, Kings Of Leon former in 1999 and have become one
of the more consistent bands in a genre that has been in trouble since the late
1980s. A family band (Anthony Caleb
Followill is the lead singer/rhythm guitar, brother Michael Jared Followill is
on bass guitar/backing singer other brother Ivan Nathan Followill is
drummer/percussionist/backing singer and cousin Cameron Matthew Followill is
lead guitar/backing vocal), they have released four studio albums and Live At The 02: London, England is
their first concert on Blu-ray.
Songs
include:
1)
Notion
2)
Be Somebody
3)
Taper Jean Girl
4)
My Party
5)
Molly’s Chambers
6)
Red Morning Light
7)
Fans
8)
California Waiting
9)
Milk
10) Closer
11) Crawl
12) Four Kicks
13) Charmer
14) Sex On Fire
15) The Bucket
16) On Call
17) Cold Desert
18) Use Somebody
19) Slow Night, So Long
20) Knocked Up
21) Manhattan
22) Black Thumbnail
Playing
so long together has made them a tighter band than most and it shows in this
100 minutes show. I have heard them here
and there, but they sound as good here as they ever did and though it did not
make me a fan, I was surprised how rich the music was and how much energy they
had. The audience is having fun and
Director Nick Wickham (Beyoncé – I’m Yours,
Sharika – Oral Fixation) proves once
again he can deliver a concert recording visually and otherwise.
Now I
look forward to see what this band does next.
The 1080i
1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image has some motion blur and the camera
keeps overdoing the slight in-and-out focus/unfocus bit we have seen in too
many Music Videos, hampering the playback a bit. This was shot on HD video and has some noise
throughout to begin with, but that is the style. The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 48/24 lossless mix is listed
as PCM 5.1 at the same rate, but sounds good, warm, rich and full just the
same, though I wanted more of a soundfield.
It is still superior to the PCM 2.0 Stereo and Dolby Digital 5.1 mixes
also included. There are no extras.
- Nicholas Sheffo