Following an aborted show at the weekend (and subsequent US dates due to "vocal issues and exhaustion"), and revelations about their deteriorating personal relationships from the band themselves on Twitter, Q's Associate Editor (Reviews) Niall Doherty asks can the the Followill clan hold it together?
Are Kings Of Leon on the brink of implosion? The Followills are famous for their fallouts and I don't think you need to be in the band's inner-circle - I'm certainly not - to know that band meetings often resemble Saturday Night Fight. However while they're, erm, whole-hearted approach served the band well for their first decade and their slow, steady rise to prominence; the past two years suggest all their hard work could be slowly unravelling.
Following a show in Dallas at the weekend (29 July) during which frontman Caleb Followill left the stage early due to "heat exhaustion", his younger sibling and bassist Jared did what all great younger brothers do and totally grassed him up. Taking to his Twitter account, @youngfollowill, he wrote: "I love our fans so much. I know you guys aren't stupid. I can't lie. There are problems in our band bigger than not drinking enough Gatorade."
You can't help wondering if, at the time of writing, the Followill clan are currently indulging in their very own Fightclub somewhere because singing from the same songsheet they're not. There's been signs of self-destruction almost ever since they hit the heady heights they'd spent the course of four albums striving for - first off, there was the snidey remarks about Sex On Fire (which we shouldn't forget is a song that they wrote) and how they were disappointed your Average Dave was singing along, then a calamitous headline performance at the 2009 Reading Festival, both followed by two out-of-their-hands, but still a bit odd, incidents; the pigeon shit incident in the US and the tourbus fire in December last year that postponed an O2 Arena show. As the old saying doesn't go: When pigeon's arses are conspiring against you, you know you're in trouble.
Harking back to the infamous Reading debacle (sample Tweet, this time from Nathan: "Reading? What the fuck? Zero love for the Kings") of 2009, there was a suspicion that maybe Kings Of Leon needed a time-out (so caught up in themselves the group failed to note that despite it being August, that evening the festival site was hit by a chilling wind which meant most of the crowd struggled to hear the band's set clearly and in turn the group struggled to hear the applause the hardy audience actually mustered - oh and Oasis, another band of brothers who over-toured, were splitting up at the same time in Paris so a lot of faces were buried in smart phones).
On form and, erm, on fire, they're a riotous, uproarious rock'n'roll thrill, as their first trio of albums, as well as some significant portions of their fourth, show. But it's impossible to keep that momentum going without a rest to recharge your energy - and Kings Of Leon have toured... and toured... and toured... and got shat on by pigeons... then toured again. Doing two London Hyde Park extravaganzas two summers in a row almost seemed like they were encouraging overkill, while the lacklustre Come Around Sundown showcased a band who'd misplaced their spark.
Now this latest bout of Followill Fisticuffs suggests the best course of action would be for the brothers to get this last batch of touring out the way and then, well, get out of each other's way. Then, and only then, will they rediscover the vim and vigour that made them so great in the first place. Who knows, even the pigeons might give 'em a break...
Kings Of Leon's brawling brothers playlist:
Four Kicks
Black Thumbnail (after you deliberately slammed it in the door)
Knocked Up
Only By The Fight Night
Use Somebody (as a punch bag)
9:54 AM | 01/08/2011
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Didn't he just get married, too???
Posted by JAY at 12:20 PM | 08/08/2011 | Report Abuse
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