Kings Of Leon & Phantogram fill up Berkeley’s Greek Theatre

It was a beautiful evening at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, CA on Sunday, August 25th.  I was honored to photograph Kings Of Leon for their Can We Please Have Fun World Tour.  

And a lot of fun was had, especially watching the audience dance to opening band, Phantogram. 

Hailing from Greenwich, New York, the band consists of singer Sarah Barthel and guitarist Josh Carter. A sample of songs played this night were “Pedestal”, “Mister Impossible”, “Answer”, “Black Out Days”, and “When I’m Small”. Sarah’s voice is really unique and lovely; I throughly enjoyed their set! The audience was still filling in, but everyone seemed to really enjoy Phantogram as they found their seats for the main act.  

When Kings Of Leon came out, the theater was packed and ready to rock!  Opening with “Ballerina Radio” from their newest album Can We Please Have Fun, I couldn’t help but notice they sounded just like you hear them on the album. It was beautiful.  

Admittedly, I had not listened to a lot of their music except for the few songs I’ve heard on the radio, but before the show, I did a deep dive. Their music got me SO excited to see them. As King Of Leon went through their set, I recognized so many of the songs and can honestly say that their live show has turned me into a big fan! I really want to thank them for giving me the opportunity to come to the show and to photograph them, as well!

Some highlights for me were when they played “Sex on Fire”, “Revelry”, “Beautiful War”, “Nowhere to Run”,  “Pyro”, “Molly’s Chambers”, and “Closer”. They also played “California Waiting”, which singer Caleb Followill said they hadn’t played since 2018 and just for fun they did not rehearse it…

You wouldn’t have known it if he hadn’t had told!

Also, I was today-years-old when I found out that Kings Of Leon is actually a family band, consisting of singer and guitarist Caleb and his brothers Jared Followill on bass and vocals, and Nathan Followill on drums and vocals. Their cousin, Matthew Followill, is on lead guitar, keyboard, and vocals, too! I apologize for not knowing this beforehand, but I think it is a really cool fact that maybe not everyone knows (or maybe I’m the only one, lol).

The band closed out the night with their hit “Use Somebody” to which all of the audience sang along. All of their songs, old and new, were really fantastic; it was such a memorable night. Thank you again to Kings of Leon for the memories, I can’t wait to see you next time!  

Photography by Sara Taylor

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