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Kings of Leon
When Kings of Leon released their third album Because Of The Times in April 2007, Entertainment Weekly called it their “crowning achievement,” while Rolling Stone wondered: “How good can the Kings of Leon get? They’ve already gone further than anybody could have guessed.”
Coming as it did on the heels of 2003’s rowdy Youth and Young Manhood and 2005’s brawny Aha Shake Heartbreak, the expansive Because of The Times was indeed a pivotal and game-changing album. It led the Followills — Tennessee-bred Caleb, Nathan, and Jared, and their cousin Matthew — to astonishing success around the world. In the U.S., the band has sold out New York City’s fabled Radio City Music Hall and The Greek Theatre in Hollywood. In the U.K., Kings of Leon headlined this summer’s legendary Glastonbury Festival, as well as the Oxygen Festival in Ireland, and sold out their upcoming December show at London’s 20,000-seat 02 Arena (where Led Zeppelin held its reunion concert) in less than an hour.
But if critics thought that Because of The Times was the work of a band “at the peak of its powers” (as the Los Angeles Times put it), they may want to reconsider that assessment after hearing Kings of Leon’s new album Only By The Night, due from RCA Records on September 23rd. Only By The Night picks up where Because of The Times left off, continuing Kings of Leon’s shape-shifting evolution and cementing their status as a world-class rock band.
“After three records and touring for five years straight, we knew what we were capable of,” says the band’s drummer Nathan, “we just had to put our money where our mouths were. We had to take it to the next level. You always want your next record to be better than your last.” Adds frontman and lyricist Caleb: “There’s never a time that we’ll make a record and won’t attempt to do something better than what came before.”
With its stunning melodies, ringing guitars, and razor-sharp grooves, Only By The Night delivers on the promise Kings of Leon have shown throughout their career. From the desolate atmospherics of the opening track “Closer” (which Caleb says is about a lovesick vampire) to the emotional intensity of the closing ballad “Cold Desert” (“about a man at the end of his rope who picks himself back up”), Only By The Night is all heart from start to finish.
Album highlights include the insistently chugging first single “Sex on Fire” (“there’s always been an element of sex in our music, so I thought I’d just wrap it all up in one song and be done with the sex for the rest of the record,” Caleb jokes), the throbbing, propulsive “Crawl” (about relationships of all kinds and taking them for granted), and the sonically sweeping “Use Somebody,” which Caleb wrote while feeling lonely on the road. “It’s about being far from home.” Then there’s the soaring uplift of “Manhattan,” which is partly about dancing and enjoying life and partly about the struggles of Native Americans. “’Manhattan’ is actually a Native American word that means ‘island of many hills,’” says Caleb, who adds that his family has Native American blood. Finally there’s the driving, forceful “Notion,” which finds the singer pushing back against anyone who says anything against anyone in his band.
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Coachella 2011: Arcade Fire, Kings of Leon, Kanye West

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JamBase
The 12th Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival is set for Friday, April 15, Saturday, April 16 and Sunday, April 17 at the beautiful Empire Polo Club in Indio, CA and the 2011 line-up includes headlining performances from Arcade Fire, Kanye West and Kings of Leon. While music serves as the centerpiece for Coachella, this year's festival will feature an expanded commitment to art, culture and community via a unique partnership with The Creators Projecta global initiative that supports leading ...
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Kings of Leon: Album Cover/Tracklist/Single

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JamBase
NEW SINGLE RADIOACTIVE" PRE-ORDER STARTING SEPTEMBER 14; ALBUM DROPS OCTOBER 19 RCA Records is excited to announce that Radioactive" will be the first single from Kings of Leon's new album, Come Around Sundown. It is set to impact radio on September 13, with the video premiering on kingsofleon.com and Vevo the week before (September 8). Come Around Sundown will be released on October 19, but available for pre-order via iTunes starting September 14. Fans who pre-order the record will receive ...
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Kings of Leon Reschedule St. Louis Show

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JamBase
JULY 23 TICKET HOLDERS ATTEND FREE OF CHARGE Kings of Leon have announced they will return to the Verizon Wireless Ampitheatre in St. Louis on September 25. On July 23, the band left the stage three songs into their set after being hit with bird droppings. As soon as what happened happened, we knew we were going to come back," Jared Followill told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. We knew leaving would be horrible, and we knew people were not going ...
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Walkmen and Kings of Leon Tour

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JamBase
APRIL/MAY U.S. DATES WITH KINGS
The Walkmen This spring, The Walkmen will support Kings of Leon on a tour that begins April 19 in Boston, MA. The Walkmen are currently out promoting their recent release, You and Me (check out the JamBase review).
US Tour With Kings Of Leon 4/19: Agannis Arena, Boston, MA 4/20: La Sala Rossa, Montreal (Solo Headline) 4/21: Air Canada Centre, Toronto, ON 4/22: Palumbo, Pittsburgh, PA
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Franklin, Bennett, Kings of Leon Join Jazz Fest Lineup

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All About Jazz
Aretha Franklin, Tony Bennett, Jakob Dylan, Joe Cocker, Spoon, Buddy Guy and Kings of Leon join the 40th anniversary of New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.
Common doesn't commonly share a bill with Aretha Franklin, Tony Bennett, Jakob Dylan, Joe Cocker, Spoon, Buddy Guy and Kings of Leon, but that's how music rolls at the proudly eclectic New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, marking its 40th anniversary April 24-26 and April 30-May 3.
Three years after the devastation of Hurricane ...
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