Kings of Leon have released a new video, for the song ‘Beautiful War’, and it plays like a mini movie about cowboys, love, bar fights, Urban-cowboy-style bull riding, and even jail. If they wanted to give a cinematic dimension to their song, they sure managed to do it, but does the song deserve it?
It’s a slow burner, ascending with the expected bombast in the chorus, which had won them comparisons with U2’s ‘With or Without You’ by the Guardian among other publications… yeah I can definitively hear it, but may be I would like the song better if it has been U2 singing it in 1987?
Kings of Leon guys have brought the western-theme’s heavy artillery, a story of redemption, and a big star – the video features ‘Tron: Legacy’ actor Garrett Hedlund – to appeal to their rock-arena audience, the video is epic, mainly, and I am sure it will work for a lot of people,…. or not.
I mean, I didn’t get interested enough to try to understand the story at first… but after a second time watching the video, I was, wait a minute, this guy is kind of a moron right? What kind of big message the video wants to convey? The guy gets drunk in a bar one night, behaves like an asshole, kills a man, and gets a life sentence in prison but, because he rides bulls (in jail), his girlfriend forgives him and he becomes some kind of hero? So idiotic!
Meanwhile, Kings of Leon will begin a full ‘Mechanical Bull tour’ of the U.S. in February.