Kings of Leon, Auckland NZ, 2022

Kings of Leon

23rd October 2022
Spark Arena, Auckland, New Zealand

Review by Bridget Herlihy with photography by Doug Peters.

The Southern Hemisphere summer is just around the corner, and while many Kiwis chose to hit the road and head to the beach for the long weekend, throngs of music fans descended upon the Tamaki Makarau for the first of two long-awaited shows from Kings of Leon. It has been a long 13 years since the four-piece Tennessee natives last paid Aotearoa a visit; a wait that was extended due to the rescheduling of the shows that were initially slated to take place in March. Yet it was evident on Sunday evening that the Kings of Leon fans are an eager and patient bunch that brought Spark Arena alive with their enthusiasm.

The addition of The Temper Trap as the opening act of the night was a perfect choice to whet the appetite of the sold-out crowd, with the Australian indie rock quartet clearly having amassed a strong following in New Zealand. It was an early start with the evening’s performances kicking off at 7.30, which meant some punters who were scrambling for a car park missed the beginning of the set. But a few songs into their set the arena was three quarters full, holding the crowd captivated with their high energy set.

Frontman Dougy Mandagi noted that Sunday night’s performance was the band’s first in three years, yet despite a hiatus from live performances the band were in exceptional form. The played through a brief set of new and not so new tracks, including an impressive instrumental that saw Mandagi take on percussion duties. It was clear that The Temper Trap excel in a live environment, and evident that they were enjoying themselves immensely, as were the capacity crowd. Ending with fan favourite ‘Sweet Disposition’, the audience went ballistic as they closed the set on an immense high.

After a rather amusing kiwi-fied version of ‘kiss cam’ keeping the audience entertained between sets, the lights suddenly dimmed and the Kings emerged onto a stage lit with red and yellow, and proceeded to set the arena alight. Barely a pause was taken during their two hour set, and it was only after a handful of songs that frontman Caleb Followill greeted the audience, who lapped up his every word.

Both dedicated fans and the curious who looked over the band’s set lists from shows played in North America and Europe this year would have been delighted that Kings of Leon have been delving way, way back into their twenty-plus year catalogue for this tour. With each set incorporating tracks from the each of their eight albums, and the promise to play fan favourites, the level of anticipation was high. And the Kings delivered in spades from the moment that they played opening track ‘When You See Yourself’.

The momentum did not let up as they delivered hit after hit. Phones were in the air, there was dancing in the aisles, and the crowd sung (and screamed) along at the top of their lungs. Given that Followill mentioned that he was running on only four hours sleep, he and the band sounded exceptional. The highlights were many, including a stunning rendition of personal favourite ‘Closer’, along with ‘Fans’, ‘Use Somebody, ‘Revery’, and the list goes on.

The music was perfectly accompanied with stunning lighting and visual effects that complimented the set beautifully. Before ending the show with ‘Sex On Fire’ (of course) Followill suggested that if anyone didn’t enjoy Sunday’s show should go again on Monday night as it will be even better. Suffice to say, sleep deprived or not, Kings of Leon not only exceeded expectations, but also blew them out of the water. This band must be seen and heard live to be believed.

Were you there at the Spark Arena for this big arena rock gig? Or have you seen Kings of Leon perform live somewhere else before? Tell us about it in the comments below!

Setlist:

1. When You See Yourself, Are You Far Away
2. Slow Night, So Long
3. King of the Rodeo
4. Taper Jean Girl
5. The Bandit
6. Revelry
7. Manhattan
8. Eyes on You
9. Time in Disguise
10. Waste a Moment
11. Radioactive
12. Find Me
13. On Call
14. McFearless
15. Pyro
16. Closer
17. Crawl
18. Molly’s Chambers
19. Cold Desert
20. Pickup Truck
21. Milk
22. Fans
23. Use Somebody
24. Knocked Up [encore]
25. The Bucket [encore]
26. Sex On Fire [encore]

_{Note: Ambient Light was provided passes to review and photograph this concert. As always, this has not influenced the review in any way and the opinions expressed are those of Ambient Light’s only. This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase a product using an affiliate link, Ambient Light will automatically receive a small commission at no cost to you.}

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