Dear NME readers
Hear ye! Hear ye! Hear ye! Let this news ring out all over the land: The Stills have embarked on a three-week tour of the sandswept desert-landscapes of the Southwestern U.S. of A. with our great friends, the Kings of Leon, who we hear are doing somewhat ok over with y'all in England. This is our third tour together, and we have only had big, memorable, amazing times together, and this should prove to be no different, as it will be the biggest tour they have done of the States.
It will take us into many famous and great cities, some right-wing Scarevilles, some beautiful welcoming oases of culture. All this in a hyper-charged political atmosphere. The United States and the world are on the brink of something big with the coming elections, and the air is hugely thick with the tension and the apprehension. Our tour ends two days before the vote. It will be interesting to watch.
We will be providing you daily diary entries from this tour, filled with dirt and details, blood on the walls, lots of soul, moments and music, faces, trips, people, places, the essences, the fragrances, the whole 9-yards and American football field-goals to boot. Hamburger grease, giant cars, modern drugs, fat, fear, fear of fat, all of it. All this with audio-visual accompaniment, photo evidence, video evidence, and written testimonials. The beasts are all coming to the edge of the jungle to watch it all go down and wait for the right moment to sweep in and make off with the slow and the weak.
So. We now welcome you into our world. The doors are flung open to you, for all to see in, so come in and join us, and enjoy yourselves fully.
DAY 1 - October 10, Las Vegas, Nevada
We fly in from Montreal homebase and land in the middle of the Nevada desert, one day before the first show. I don't think anyone reasonable would drop acid in a place like this and so we don't. Decadence and Disease. They hide out around here. It's obvious you'd think that, but they do, and they normalize themselves. The smell of schizo-dust just kinda fades into the background with the beeping and buzzing and lights and fake boobs and cowboys and wheelchairs. Our hotel elevator has access to Hell, floor minus-13. To let the demons in and out. They work inside the slot machines and in the roulette balls and poker chips. Hell is also where they make the soul-vacuums that suck it all up around here. Built to last. Forever.
Tequila and gambling at the Hard Rock Cafe with the Kings. They don't waste time getting you out and hanging. They're great at it. I think they like us so much cause so are we. We talk and joke around and catch up are super happy to see each other after many months. And we talk some Obama/McCain. Fuck McCain. They're Obama. So are we. God save us all from redundant political idiocy and silent racist conservative fuckery. Oliver (Crowe, bass, Stills) slaughters at blackjack but donates all his winnings back to the casino in return for an extra 10 years of life. He should live to 43 now. We call it around 3am, and head back to our hotels. Tomorrow we will return to the Hard Rock Cafe to play our first show of the tour at The Joint, along with our friends We Are Scientists, who are also on the tour with us. Really good blokes that lot. Come on a-baby, Let the good times roll!
DAY 2 - October 11, Las Vegas, Nevada
(ps: one great thing about this fucking place is the scenery. It's in a nice part of the world. The mountains are beautiful. I mean, I would do drugs out here, just that it would have to be mushrooms and it would happen to be going down far out of town. Yes, indeed.)
The thing about the Kings of Leon is that they make you feel so welcome and at home right away. They make you feel like you're part of their family and that they would take down anyone who even thought of giving you trouble in the bat of an eye. They are loyal friends and we love them for it. And they're for real human beings with big hearts, and down to earth to boot. We found some lovely 12 year whiskey in our dressing room with a note, and they watched our entire show from the wings.
The show itself is driven to the hilt, a bit wild and unpredictable, but goes awesome. The crowd is amazing too. 2000 people here to have it. Saturday night, excitable crowd. So are we. 7 songs/30 minutes. The kind of show during which you find vibe right away and hold onto it easy the whole time. Hard not to love those ones. Justin Timberlake is backstage after the Kings show, with his lady Jessica Biel. We meet and chat. We have a couple of drinks. He was in NSYNC.
