Glasgow Summer Sessions: Kings of Leon @ Bellahouston Park, 22 Aug

Kings of Leon headline a packed half-day festival and roll back the years with a delightfully nostalgic setlist favouring a handful of much-loved early material

Live Review by Dylan Tuck | 24 Aug 2018

Glasgow Summer Sessions are caught somewhere between a late-starting festival and a big show that opens strangely early. Nonetheless, there’s a fair few excited punters knocking around as the doors open at 4pm, ready to get a decent spot at the front and sell a limb to fund an extortionately priced pint of dirty lager.

With it being a Wednesday afternoon and only just gone half-past four, there’s understandably a shortage of people in attendance for Isaac Gracie’s opening set, which is a real shame as he’s quite the treat. His long, golden hair streams across his face as his dreamy vocals ease us through some treacle-sweet songs that are well worth a little jig. The same lack of audience members mars Everything Everything's follow-up performance too. The electronic-pop/indie group have quite a few memorable tracks, but there’s just not the energy in the crowd that they would’ve been hoping for.

To completely contrast the first two acts, The Hunna gain a sea of watching eyes glazed in their direction. Seemingly, they have a hefty following of younger fans, as their nod-along, crowd-pleasing, indie anthems fit nicely with the festival-esque setting – if you’re willing to forgive their slightly stereotypical 'rock band' antics that cringe-up their set, that is.

The final support act, The Wombats, could easily earn themselves the status of being the quintessential British indie festival band. With a general charm and quirk to their lyricism and demeanour, and armed with some real powerhouse tracks like Techno Fan and Let's Dance to Joy Division, the odd trio show they’re really god damn good at this live show lark.

After nearly five hours within the now quite chilly field, Kings of Leon are finally ready to give us what we came for – well, perhaps not everyone. Bursting in with a triple-header of tracks from their second album Aha Shake Heartbreak, it’s clear right from the start that this setlist was built on nostalgia for the more hardcore followers as opposed to those looking for newer, more accessible singalongs.

Across their mighty 24 song set, almost half is taken from older albums, harking back to their earlier, more unpolished, subtly-experimental sound. It’s quite a big risk to favour a host of songs that many casual listeners may not know, but to see a band of their status perform old-school favourites like Charmer, McFearless and Slow Night, So Long among other belters is a true rarity that is there to be savoured. It’s as if the family band are taking a collective look back over their shoulders at their roots and history, while still retaining the anthemic qualities of newer tracks like Supersoaker and Find Me that many had been dying to hear.

And of course, they couldn’t get away without unleashing the undeniable hits; Use Somebody’s woah-ohs have thousands of lungs at full voice, before a final hurrah of – you guessed it – Sex on Fire, concluding with a mini-pandemonium. Fabulous.

http://kingsofleon.com/