For me Baba Shrimps were the kings of the evening. Because except of being thrilled by the big hits, I knew, and the one or other song I liked, the concert of Kings of Leon finally wasn’t a lot of use to me. My enthudiasm for the band was kept within a limit.
Baba Shrimps announced their support performance with Kings of Leon (KOL) at Hallenstadion on Wednesday before. You know, the US band with the hits “Use Somebody” and “Sex on Fire”. “Baba Shrimps at Hallenstadion? I GOTTA see this.”. And I might like Kings of Leon. I hesistated first, but as standing was still available, I bought a ticket. The concert was supposed to end by 10 pm. Perfect!
To reach front row hass probably never been easier before. 2 hours before doors opened there were not even 20 people queuing. I was standing on my own at the Ticketcorner friends & member entrance for ages and so I was one of the first entring the arena. And no bag controls. Instead there were about 20 security guys lined up in front of the stage. They made sure that the front rows weren’t filming during KOL. The arena was filling only shortly before Baba Shrimps started. Totally unused. They started at 7.4 pm. Of course I should have known that it won’t work out with the early play times. But lights went finally off then, the five of Baba Shrimps entered stage and started as usual with “Trouble”. The BABA neon writing was blinking and glowing in all colors. The guy next to me, who first didn’t want to hear the support act at all, suddendly was quite into the support act. If I was looking to the left and the right as well over the first 2-3 rows behind me, Baba Shrimps went down well with their songs. “Europe”, “Back To Where The Light Is”, “All The City Lights”, “I don’t wanna hide” – the band seemed to have lots of fun on the big stage. This half hour did pass way too quickly.
The stage was quickly changed. The audience was cheering, when the curtain fell, they still were changing. A simple, uncomplicated stage with a huge LED screen in the background appeared. Seemed actually promising.
I had many thoughts in my mind during the Kings of Leon concert:
- The chewing gum bubbles of drummer and percionist were quite annoying.
- After 3-4 songs I realized that the front guy wasn’t very talkactive. Well, others are neither. Nothing bad. Just, during his rarely talks, I didn’t understand him accousticaly. Also couldn’t really understand any lyrics. I took the ear plugs out, but didn’t seeme to be the problem. But rather bad sound.
- Around 9.30 pm I had a look at the time and did sigh inside already. I was thinking about other things. Trains and way back home.
- What was it, that I simpley didn’t get hooked? Maybe not knowing the songs? Or generally the music?
- If it was the Hallenstadion and KOL should better play in a smaller location?
- The audience in the corners of my eyes seemed way too unemotional
- Did the band have fun to be up there at all? It seemed rather rushed. After half of the concert it seemed a bit better.
The light show and LED screen I thought were brilliant and impressive. Band and audience were shown, pictures and light pattern could be seen in turns. Everything was very colorful. Then at 10 pm, half an hour before the end, I decided to leave front row (I usually don’t do that, only back then with Yokko or Marc Sway – didn’t like band live enough or sound was bad). In the hope of better sound. I’d see the light show in all too. Maybe the audience in the back was better? I would be able to leave the arena quicker after AND I was hungry. Wasn’t easy to get away.
Many already started to leave the concert. I wasn’t really hooked, but that’s not what I’ve done then. I wanted to hear the two songs I knew after all. And that was just about possible. The view definitively wasn’t great in the back, but sound better after all. And there the last song before the encore was played – “Use Somebody”. People jumped out of their seats- cheering and screaming. More or less the whole arena got up. Everyone sang along.Typical! 😛 The band came back for the encore and I gave up. I got something to eat and was listening to “Sex on Fire” from the foyer, while having a look at the new Baba Shrimps sticker.
I definitively liked Baba Shrimps better. Kings of Leon were only ok. Maybe I’d like Kings of Leon better on CD? Happened with other bands before. Well, I’ve seen them now and in future I’ll leave it at this.
