On September 19, the West Side Tennis Club welcomed Kings Of Leon to the borough of Queens with open arms on a picturesque Wednesday evening.
The 18th stop on their ”Can We Please Have Fun” summer tour, the indie rock quartet from Mount Juliet, Tennessee are touring in support of their ninth studio album of the same name, released on May 10.
One of New York City’s best concert venues, indoors or out, Forest Hills Stadium is truly a gem with a rich, storied history that is now one year removed from its centennial anniversary. Originally designed in the early-1920s as the original home of the U.S. Open tennis tournament, the Romanesque stadium and its grounds hosted 60 editions of the major tournament before it moved to its current home in Flushing Meadows in 1978. Beginning in the 1960s, the tennis club began booking concerts and quickly attracted some of the most culturally significant artists of our generation, including The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan.
In August 2013, after decades of neglect and narrowly escaping demolition, the 14,000-capacity facility re-opened with Mumford & Sons performing the inaugural concert (my wife and I were there!). Not yet satisfied with their face lift, over the next few years, Forest Hills Stadium underwent multi-million dollar state-of-the-art renovations including optimized acoustics, the installation of a permanent stage and redesigning and expanding the concourse to twice its original size.
Providing opening support for Kings Of Leon on this 28-date tour of North America, which launched in Austin, Texas on August 14, was Phantogram. Formed in 2007 and hailing from Saratoga Springs, just a few hours’ drive up the NY State Thruway, the electronic dream pop duo are comprised of multi-instrumentalists and vocalists Sarah Barthel and Josh Carter. Friends since their preschool days, Barthel and Carter were joined by a touring drummer and keyboardist as they mesmerized the steadily growing audience filling up the stadium with their swirling guitars, spacey keyboards and airy vocals.
Over the course of 40 minutes, Phantogram presented a 10–song set spread evenly across their soon-to-be five album discography, including their opening song “Don’t Move” from Nightlife, an EP released in 2011. Their fifth studio album, Memory of a Day, is scheduled to drop on October 18 via Neon Gold. The 12-track LP is preceded by lead singles “All A Mystery” and “Happy Again,” both of which were performed live onstage as if they were already classics in their storied repertoire.
Barthel and her hypnotically engaging lyrics were perfectly complimented by Carter’s atmospheric guitar work (who was sporting another one of his signature baseball hats, this time with “NY” fittingly represented) and mastery of his beat sequencing machinery, for a captivating, dreamy set. Stand-out numbers from Phantogram’s trip hop setlist were “Fall in Love” and “Black Out Days,” released more than a decade ago on their sophomore studio album Voices.
As the night’s festivities continued to move briskly along to comply with the strict 10:00 pm curfew (an effort implemented in April by the State Supreme Court order to appease residents in the surrounding neighborhood), I secured my position back in front of the mixing soundboard and readied my camera. The sun having completely set, Kings Of Leon took the stage at 7:45 pm, led by frontman Caleb Followill. As “Ballerina Radio” got underway, the lead track from Can We Please Have Fun, brothers Nathan (drums) and Jared (bass), along with cousin Matthew (lead guitar), suddenly appeared from the dark shadows. Accompanied by touring musicians Liam O’Neil (keyboards, percussion) – who was also celebrating his birthday – and Timothy Deaux (rhythm guitar, keyboards), it was ‘Game On!’
Formed in 1999, the gritty, garage rock sound that Kings Of Leon embodies has been compared to that of Manhattan’s very own The Strokes, intermixed with blues boogie vibes reminiscent of Lynyrd Skynyrd for good measure. The entirety of Kings of Leon’s impressive catalog, now going on more than two decades, was represented in Queens this hump day by at least one track, with Can We Please Have Fun getting the strongest representation (six numbers in total), an album reminiscent of their innovative, early career recordings.
Having never seen Kings Of Leon perform live, the song I wanted to witness firsthand, above any other, was “Sex on Fire” (Only by the Night, 2008). Well, I did not have to wait very long, because my wish was granted one-third of the way into their set! After that, everything else was gravy.
Since I am not someone who checks out setlist.fm or does extensive research ahead of a band’s gig, because I like the element of surprise, I did not know that on this tour Kings Of Leon have been setting aside ‘one-off’ numbers not performed at other shows on the same tour, affectionately known as “song for the city.”
This is the point of the evening where we play a special song just for you. No one else gets to hear it on the tour. In fact, not many other people have ever heard it. So, uh, we’re gonna give it to you tonight for your song for the city. This song was written in New York, and it’s about New York. This is “The Face” [second ever performance and first since 2014].
Caleb Followill
Being only my fifth show at Forest Hills Stadium . . . in addition to Mumford and Sons in 2013, I saw them again in 2016, along with Beck and Cage the Elephant (2019) and Weezer (2023), like the others, tonight’s show was just about fun, enjoying yourself and/or who you were with, and forgetting about life for at least a little while. Aside from stellar musical offerings from both Phantogram and Kings Of Leon, the stage design was visually stunning and the balloon rainstorm during the encore was the cherry on top to a glorious night.
Watch Kings Of Leon conclude their epic, 26-song set with the anthemic “Use Somebody,” from Only by the Night, here:
With just 10 more shows to go on the tour over the next couple of weeks, what lies next for these Southern gentlemen – outside of a much needed break from the road – is still a mystery. Regardless of future plan announcements or details about their next project, eager anticipation by their legion of fans is sure to ensue.
Phantogram Setlist: Don’t Move > Fall in Love > Pedestal > All a Mystery > Cruel World > Mr Impossible > Happy Again > Answer > Black Out Days > When I’m Small
Kings Of Leon Setlist: Ballerina Radio > The Bucket > The Bandit > On Call > Nowhere to Run > Manhattan > Razz > My Party > Sex on Fire > Revelry > Beautiful War > The Face > Supersoaker > M Television > Back Down South > WALLS > Pyro > Mustang > Molly’s Chambers > Waste a Moment > Find Me > Seen > Closer > Encore: Rainbow Ball > Knocked Up > Use Somebody
UPCOMING TOUR DATES
September 20 – Washington, DC @ The Anthem
September 22 – Washington, DC @ The Anthem
September 23 – Philadelphia, PA @ Mann Center for the Performing Arts
September 25 – Atlanta, GA @ State Farm Arena
September 26 – Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena
September 28 – Chicago, IL @ Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island
October 1 – Toronto, ON @ Budweiser Stage
October 2 – Laval, QC @ Place Bell
October 5 – Bridgeport, CT @ Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater
October 7 – Boston, MA @ MGM Music Hall at Fenway
PHANTOGRAM
KINGS OF LEON
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