Kings of Leon, BRMC and Manchester Orchestra at SDSU Open Air

 Rawk Shows   

Wow. Just wow. What a great show. I can hardly contain myself and want to get to the good stuff....but if I don’t do this chronologically, it’ll just be a mess.

So...first up was Manchester Orchestra. My friend Matt and I got there early enough to catch their set and we were both really glad. I really liked their album and it was really good to hear a live set. (I had missed them twice as they recently opened up for Brand New...my bad.) They are much edgier live than on their record and I dug it. Standout tunes were “Golden Ticket” and the ballsy “Wolves at Night”.

And then BRMC. This was the fourth time I’ve seen them this year and I still loved every minute of it. Though it is disappointing to me that when they don’t headline they don’t bring a piano or keyboard to get some of those songs in. We miss out on good stuff without it. But hey, like I said, they are not slackers and still put on a great performance.

BRMC Set list
SDSU Open Air Theatre
9/8/07

Took Out A Loan
Berlin
Love Burns
Spread Your Love
Weapon of Choice
Whatever Happened to My Rock and Roll Punk Song
Stop
Cold Wind
Need Some Air
American X

Oh...and then, Kings of Leon. They were incredibly good at Indie Jam, so I was geeked up to get a full set and to be in the 10th row for the show. They walked out and the first thing I noticed was that Caleb cut his hair off even more. And, um, he looks freaking sooooo hot. I officially have a new rockstar crush. But yeah, they come out and start with “Charmer” which was perfect. The front section was pumped up and security was actually cool and let us all bunch up in the front. So it was more like being in the second row, which was awesome because I got to drool at Caleb all night. He was really expressive all night, which was fun to watch. He was also having some issues with sound and had to ask for less guitar and more vocals a couple of times. (From where I was, it sounded all good, but maybe I was distracted by his hotness.) The set was full of new stuff along with old favorites. Early in the set, they got us into a frenzy with “Taper Jean Girl” and “My Party”. After they did “Camaro”, Caleb told us that we were the first to hear that one live. Then they assaulted us (in a good way) with “McFearless”, “Molly’s Chambers” and “The Bucket”. A couple of songs later, during “On Call”, Caleb asked us to sing along and we all obliged. That is a great song live. They came right back at us with “California Waiting”, “Spiral Staircase” and then ended with “Trani”. Matt was really stoked they did that, since it is a song that Bob Dylan said that he loved. While we were waiting for the encore, I was crossing my fingers for “Knocked Up” and was not disappointed as that was the first song of the 3 song encore. They ended the show with “Slow Night, So Long” and then came out and said goodbye to an adoring crowd. We stuck around for a bit as I was trying to get one of the roadie’s attention to get the set list, but someone beat me to it. He did let me take a photo, so here you are:

As we were waiting around, another roadie came out with like a dozen drumsticks and gave those all out. Matt got one and was pretty stoked about that. A good night all around. (Well, until I left and then my night went downhill from there, but whatevs...)