As the lights over the audience dimmed to complete darkness, the clapping got louder and the cheering turned to screams. After a minute of having the audience wait anxiously in the dark, four young men dressed in ordinary street clothes and with overgrown hair walked out to take their place underneath a golden spotlight. Just before starting their first song, Caleb Followill, the band’s vocalist, spoke, “Good evening. We are the Kings of Leon.”
On Thursday, May 7, the Kings of Leon performed at the BankUnited Center in Miami. This performance was part of their 2009 tour, triggered after releasing their fourth and most successful album yet, Only by the Night.
When Caleb, Nathan, Matthew and Jared Followill started playing their first song, “Crawl,” the audience was instantly captivated by the hard guitar riffs, powerful drum beats, slamming bass and Caleb’s soul-filled voice. Their songs kept the audience dancing with their arms in the air.
At times, the brothers would look around at one another and grin as they heard the music they were making pour out of the five-foot speakers lined behind them. At other times, they would watch as Caleb’s eyes shut, voice cracked with emotion and teeth clenched; then seconds later he would violently shake his head, as if bringing himself back to reality, flinging sweat droplets off his face.
As the concert drew to an end, Caleb set his guitar down, thanked the crowd and wished everyone a good night. The brothers then walked offstage still waving, but the crowd did not want to see them leave. Immediately everyone cried for more, yelling out names of songs the band hadn’t played.
After a few minutes of the crowd not giving up their pleading cheers, the band responded. They came back out holding bottles of liquor with blue cups in one hand, beers in the
other and cigarettes between their lips. They took a few swigs of booze, as if they were making the audience envious that they were the only ones drinking since the BankUnited Center is a “dry” concert hall; meaning no alcohol for anyone.
They strapped on their instruments and again looked out onto the massive audience. The crowd started to get rowdier, now stomping their feet on the ground, slamming their palms on the seats and screaming the band members’ names. Caleb smiled at this and made a “Come on, give me more” gesture with his hands. The crowd immediately responded, making the concert hall almost deafening.
“We’ve been trying to build a fan base in Florida. I think, tonight, we did,” Caleb said to the audience cheering him on.
They then started to play again sounding even better than before, as if motivated by the crazy audience. The guys even threw in a new song, titled “LucyFur,” which had blues written all over it. The powerful guitar solo in this new, mysterious song rang out and whined high and low pitches that made you sway back and forth without even realizing that you were moving.
The closing song was “Use Somebody,” in which Caleb’s howling voice seemed to overpower his brothers’ instruments. Finally, they finished, looking exhausted but ready to party.
They waved one last time and walked behind the velvet curtain.
