Liz B.
Yelp
I know this makes me sound like an old granny raising her cane and crowing about the good old days, but I miss the old version of Kings on McDowell Street. It was a true run-down grimy dive, my favorite place to escape from the bright, shiny, full-of-khakis school world. I would go there to drink bourbon and listen to obscure indie bands and bask in my loner coolness. On many a weekend night in the early 2000's, I sat by the dilapidated pool table with my nose stuck in textbooks, cramming for exams between band sets, while getting hit on by the band's bass player (always the bass players) who offered to help me study anatomy.
But this review is for the newly revamped Kings, so I'll stop reminiscing. First, you need to walk up the stairs (there is a different nightclub down the staircase), and pay a few dollars for a lifetime membership fee to enter the first time. Once you go inside, it's bright and spiffy, with hip funky art on the walls, including actual puppets of the old Muppet guys with perpetually furrowed eyebrows in a balcony seat, mocking us under their breaths. There's a square-shaped bar in the back, with the encased bartender able to serve customers on all sides. The open area by the stage is mostly for standing, with a few bleachers on the sides. I've been to a few music shows (most memorably, The Mountain Goats) where there were sound issues, frustrating both the performers and the audience, but they were eventually overcome. I have also been to dance parties and spelling bees at this venue. The clientele? Hipsters, ahoy! Many on the shallow side of 20's, which alienates me (an early thirtysomething) just a bit.
As with the old Kings, they book fantastic, highly regarded, often underappreciated bands, so I will do my best to support them. But I don't have the same emotional pull to the relocated, post-facelift Kings. It's not destined to become a much-loved haunt for me, like the prior version, but I'm happy that Kings still exists in Raleigh, in whatever form.