Kings of Leon Debut "Sex on Fire" at All Points West

While Kings of Leon didn't exactly have the most energy onstage on Saturday at All Points West, their positive vibes and effortless cool certainly translated to the first massive crowd of the day, who pogoed happily to their classic-rock rave-ups. The unexpected highlight of their set was "Sex On Fire," the first single off upcoming album Only by the Night, which the band played live for the first time anywhere. A mix of Springsteen and Cold War Kids, "Fire" was a real triumph in a set already bursting with triumphant hooks.

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Song Stories

“Piano Man”

Billy Joel | 1973

Billy Joel’s first hit, “Piano Man,” was – ironically – an autobiographical lament about how his first album wasn’t a hit. When Cold Spring Harbor didn’t take off, Joel briefly became a lounge pianist in Los Angeles, and this song, about that experience, expressed his frustrations and fears at the time: “And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar/And say, ‘Man, what are you doing here?’” “It was all right,” Joel said later, about the gig. “I got free drinks and union scale, which was the first steady money I’d made in a long time.”

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