South African music fans don’t like tour cancellations or postponements. Postpone once, and we might forgive you. Postpone twice, and you might as well just load your music onto The Pirate Bay, because we won’t be buying your albums anymore (just ask Limp Bizkit). We won’t even talk about cancellations, because that is just unforgivable and you’ll be shunned worse than a ginger stepchild.
The dramallama
In January of this year, drummer Nathan Followill confirmed on his Twitter account that Kings of Leon were postponing their South African tour, originally scheduled for March, in order to allow him time to recover from surgery for a torn right labrum and bicep. Fans weren’t happy, but all was dandy when new tour dates were announced for October.
However, in August, the interwebs went nuts, after news broke that they were postponing their US tour, due to a bit of a public meltdown by frontman Caleb Followill. The rumour mill went into overdrive and local fans began to panic that KOL might be postponing their South African dates for the second time. In fact the rumours were so rife that organiser Big Concerts were forced to come out and declare: “Please note that the Kings of Leon South African dates are not affected by the US tour postponement! The SA tour is still scheduled for the end of October!”
Big Concerts’ reassurance must’ve eased fans’ unbearable nerves – but now, as the tour draws nearer, the blood pressure inevitably rises again, as anxiety has been converted into excitement, while South Africa eagerly anticipates what many have referred to as one of the last few, true rock ‘n’ roll bands of today.
Origins
Formed in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee in 1999, the band, named after their grandfather Leon from Talihina, Oklahoma, consists of brothers Caleb Followill (vocals, rhythm guitar), Nathan Followill (drums, backing vocals), Jared Followill (bass, backing vocals) and their cousin Matthew Followill (lead guitar, backing vocals).
Fairly rapidly, KOL built up an impressive fan following in their formative years, and by the time their EP, Holy Roller Novocaine, and debut album, Youth and Young Manhood, rolled out in 2003, the band were already getting the thumbs up from tastemakers and renowned publications, which favourably compared them to the likes of Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Strokes.
How good can Kings of Leon get?
“How good can the Kings of Leon get? They’ve already gone further than anybody could have guessed.” This quote was taken from Rolling Stone magazine in 2007, just after the release of their third studio album, Because Of The Times, which ultimately ensured the band some international recognition, but had not quite catapulted them into global superstardom just yet.
It was only after the release of their fourth album in 2008, Only by the Night, which spawned the smash-hit singles, Sex on Fire and Use Somebody, that the Followill clan suddenly became household names and darlings of mainstream radio. Nathan Followill explains, “The funny thing is that Only By The Night was the first album we approached with the attitude of not trying to make a popular record. We just made the record we wanted to make and it ended up being our best-selling album.”
Despite this new-found popularity, the band did second-guess their sudden explosion. In an interview with Spin Magazine in December 2009, frontman Caleb Followill admitted, “We definitely got bigger than we wanted to be. You feel like you’ve done something wrong. That woman in mom jeans who’d never let me date her daughter? She likes my music.”
Nonetheless, even if they were doing the rockstar thing of resenting commercial success, the band still toured the globe for two years behind Only By The Night, picked up accolades and awards – including a prestigious Grammy nomination – and became goliaths of the music industry.
Come around success
With success comes inevitable criticism, and this came from the band’s initial fan base who felt that their early albums were significantly better than the commercial heavyweight of Only By The Night. KOL must’ve been trolling the forums, because, on their 2010 effort, Come Around Sundown, they went back to their roots. “I don’t think any of us were thinking we had to make a record that would stand next to Only By The Night. We definitely didn’t want to go in there and make a record out of fear that it wouldn’t be as big,” Nathan says, before explaining how the new album is also a portal for newer fans to rediscover the band’s back catalogue. “It’ll be neat for people who know us only from our hits, because they’ll get to hear where we’ve come from musically. I think a couple of these songs will turn on newer fans to our older music, because it’s hard to imagine the band that wrote Sex on Fire is the same band that wrote Trani [from Youth and Young Manhood]. They’re songs from totally different worlds. I think Come Around Sundown has something for everyone on it, and I hope it leads people to discover us in a totally new way.”
Come Around Sundown ended up being another hit for the band, as it debuted at #2 on the Billboard Top 200, found its way into Rolling Stone’s Best Albums of 2010 list at #18, and earned the band another Grammy nomination.
South Africa awaits
Not content to be downloading off the illegal torrent sites or copying from their friends (naughty, naughty), local audiences have also been contributing positively to the band’s enormous success, as Only By The Night has gone Platinum and Come Around Sundown has achieved Gold status in SA. Unquestionably, these achievements prove without a shadow of a doubt that South Africa wants Kings of Leon here – and this is something that has also been confirmed by 5fm Program Manager, Vukile Zondi, who is quoted as saying, “Kings of Leon has been the most requested band to see live by South Africans for several years now.”
Now, with the tour closer than ever, fans finally believe that it will really take place. The ‘will-they-come-or-won’t-they-come’ debate is still raging on the blogs and forums, but all we can do is wait. Wait until the moment that the lights go down and the first few notes from Caleb Followill’s guitar officially announce their arrival onstage.
When that moment happens, the naysayers will be eating their words and the rest of us will be rocking out!
South African Tour Dates:
The Kings of Leon presented by Nokia, 5FM and SABC3
26 October: Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town
29 October: Soccer City, FNB Stadium, Johannesburg
Tickets still available at Computicket
With support from Die Heuwels Fantasties, Shadowclub and The Black Hotels
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