Kings Of Leon defied rumors and returned to the road as planned last night, kicking off the Canadian leg of their 2011 tour in Vancouver. The band had cancelled the remainder of their American tour after lead singer Caleb Followill, complaining of heat and dehydration, abandoned the stage in Dallas on July 29. Last night’s show reportedly went off without a hitch. Bassist Jared Followill, who’d remarked in July (via Twitter), “There are problems in our band bigger than not drinking enough Gatorade,” was much more enthusiastic this time around, tweeting afterward, “The Kings are back in business. Business is good. Really good.” The Kings have eight more dates scheduled in Canada before heading to South Africa and Australia in November. They have not announced plans to reschedule their United States shows.
Kings of Leon Rock Vancouver in Comeback Show [Spin]
[Image: Getty Images]
Each Friday here on the VH1 Blog, our VH1 Top 20 Video Countdown host Jim Shearer (@jimshearer on Twitter) will be sharing his Shearer’s Spotlight with us. Be sure to tune into the Top 20 Countdown tomorrow morning when it airs on VH1 at 9 a.m. ET/PT.
Next Wednesday, Sept. 14, the Big 4 Festival will descend upon Yankee Stadium in New York City. The participants will include the “big four” bands (i.e., pillars, staples, torch bearers, etc.) of thrash metal music: Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax. Here are some other acts that could pull off a Big 4 Festival of their own:
1) Big 4 of Millennial Pop: Britney Spears, *NSYNC, Christina Aguilera, Backstreet Boys
This past summer, the Backstreet Boys created some buzz when they toured with their boy-band predecessors, New Kids On The Block, as NKOTBSB; but could you imagine the pandemonium they could create by teaming up with late ‘90s peer/rival, *NSYNC? The reunions alone would sell tickets on this tour: Justin and *NSYNC, Justin and Britney, Britney and Christina, and three old Mouseketeers back together again.
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Tags: Festivals, Jim Shearer, Music, Shearer's Spotlight, Television, The Big 4, Megadeth, Slayer, White Stripes, Anthrax, The Strokes, *NSYNC, Backstreet Boys, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Metallica, Kings of Leon, Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, TOP 20 VIDEO COUNTDOWN
To hear Caleb Followill tell it, Kings of Leon‘s American tour has been cancelled so that he can rest his voice. To hear the rest of the band tell it—well, they’re not being specific, but they seemed angry with the outcome, judging from their reactions yesterday. The band’s management is being a bit more active in its pursuit of silence, making copyright claims on clips of Caleb’s meltdown [via @carr2n]. Their basis for the claims is the inclusion of the band’s music, which is why edits that include merely Caleb’s ad-libs have remained on YouTube, but the claims are suspiciously coincidental given the sheer volume of fan-shot Kings of Leon clips from other shows still available on the site.
As a naïve attempt to protect Caleb Followill’s privacy (and reputation), this is all sensible—perhaps standard operating procedure prior to the Internet. As a social media strategy, however, this is the worst possible course of action for the band and for Caleb. Fans are curious folks, and as long as an audience wants the story, people will try to get it (and in so doing, will have control over it). In the absence of hard evidence (or sometimes even in spite of it), speculation and circumstantial evidence will exist as fact in practice.
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What happens in Kings of Leon doesn’t stay in Kings of Leon. After lead singer Caleb Followill‘s “meltdown” prevented him from completing the band’s set in Dallas on Friday night, the band postponed the next night’s show in Houston. Now the whole American tour has been called off, with no possibility of rescheduling. The band’s publicist cites Followill’s “vocal issues and exhaustion.”
At the Dallas show, Caleb complained frequently about the heat, dehydration, desire for alcohol, and need to vomit. He said that his voice was “100 percent gone,” then disappeared backstage, promising to return. He didn’t return.
Caleb’s bandmate cousins are less happy to stand by the official statement that “heat exhaustion and dehydration” were the culprit. Drummer Nathan Followill and bassist Jared Followill characterized things a bit differently on Twitter.
Cousin drama! We hope if Caleb is struggling, that he can get well, with the support of the rest of the band. The interpersonal dynamics of the band seem a bit too testy for that at the moment, though.
Kings of Leon Cancel Entire U.S. Tour After Dallas ‘Fiasco’ [Billboard]
Yesterday, we introduced you to the upper reaches of our Top 100 Videos of 2011 … So Far list, serving up the #100-51 videos that you’ve been clicking on most so far this year. Although a hefty portion, consider that first installment just an appetizer for today’s first course and tomorrow’s main entree. Going a bit deeper into the list, we now give you #50-11, inching closer and closer to #1.
50. Train, “Hey, Soul Sister”
49. Goo Goo Dolls, “Notbroken”
48. Jennifer Lopez, “Love Don’t Cost a Thing”
47. Jennifer Hudson, “Where You At”
46. Beyonce, “Run The World (Girls)”
45. My Chemical Romance, “SING”
44. Adam Lambert, “If I Had You”
43. Fitz and The Tantrums, “Money Grabber”
42. Kid Rock ft. Sheryl Crow, “Collide”
41. Bruno Mars, “Just The Way You Are”
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Tags: Lists, Music, Music Videos, VH1's Top 100 Videos of 2011 ... So Far, Sick Puppies, Andy Grammer, Fitz And The Tantrums, Rock Mafia, The Civil Wars, Crystal Bowersox, Two Door Cinema Club, Grace Potter & the Nocturnals, Christina Perri, Sia, Bruno Mars, Lee DeWyze, Jason Derulo, Train, Ke$ha, Katy Perry, Adam Lambert, Kylie Minogue, 30 Seconds To Mars, Sara Bareilles, Taylor Swift, Foo Fighters, Goo Goo Dolls, Jennifer Lopez, Pink, My Chemical Romance, Linkin Park, Kings of Leon, Kid Rock, Britney Spears, Beyonce, Beastie Boys, Avril Lavigne
As we parallel park into July and officially hit the curb of this year’s halfway point, it’s time to take a quick look back at what the past six months have taught us. Not conventional life lessons, however; we’re talking about stuff that’s a little bit less intense and also involves YOU! That’s right, in the first installment of our Top 100 Videos of 2011… So Far, we’re spilling the beans on the #100-51 most clicked-and-viewed videos on VH1.com. You’ll see that this piñata-like list of content contains tasty treats and slippery surprises alike! We’ve got brand-new videos that just recently launched, some VH1 Classic leaning clips (hey there, Megadeth), repeat offenders, and of course, effervescent, essential vids from the music video cannon. So take a look at the first fifty videos below and don’t forget to come back later this week as we continue on our quest to discover what artist snags the #1 spot!
100. Jack Johnson, “From The Clouds”
99. Chris Brown, “Deuces”
98. Ke$ha, “Tik Tok”
97. Bruno Mars, “The Other Side”
96. Beyoncé, “Video Phone (Extended Remix)”
95. Usher, “OMG”
94. B.o.B, “Airplanes”
93. Taylor Swift, “Mine”
92. Sara Bareilles, “King Of Anything”
91. John Legend & The Roots, “Wake Up Everybody”
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Tags: Lists, Music, VH1's Top 100 Videos of 2011 ... So Far, You Oughta Know, Megadeath, Super Stereo, Augustana, Pitbull, Raphael Saadiq, Weird Al Yankovic, Arcade Fire, Mumford & Sons, John Legend & The Roots, Duran Duran, B.o.B, Willow Smith, Mike Posner, Lissie, Christina Perri, Trey Songz, Fantasia, Bruno Mars, Jack Johnson, Train, Ke$ha, Katy Perry, Adam Lambert, Death Cab For Cutie, Adele, David Cook, Chris Brown, a-ha, Josh Groban, Sara Bareilles, Taylor Swift, Shakira, Foo Fighters, Steven Tyler, Usher, Linkin Park, Kings of Leon, James Blunt, Dr. Dre, Britney Spears, Beyonce
Throughout its eclectic fifteen-year run, the majority of VH1 Storytellersepisodes have been shot in sound stages in either New York City or Los Angeles. While we certainly are adept at capturing your favorite star-songwriters and musicians in their purest creative form, it’s almost unheard of that we do so on the artist’s home turf. That, my friends, is yet another reason why this season’s Storytellers premiere is SO exciting; taped in Nashville where the band actually lives, Kings Of Leon were able deliver a performance tailored for their adoring local fans. But rest assured: you don’t have to LIVE in Nashville to get a piece of the pie action. During our journey down South to cover KOL’s regal Storytellers taping last month, we sat down with the band and decided to do a little recon of our own, all in hopes of serving up a few enticing slivers of information for all you KOL fans to sink your teeth into.
Curious as to why we’re using so much food-related imagery?! Well, we’ve already given you a behind the scenes glimpse at the band’s Storytellers shoot, and all week we’ve been releasing clips from the show that airs TONIGHT at 11 p.m. ET/PT. But what we haven’t sent your way yet is Kings Of Leon’s personal list of restaurants and bars that they themselves frequent in Music City. That’s right, we’re psyched to present to you Fare Fit For A King: The Ultimate Nashville City Guide.
Follow along for pictures and descriptions of the places where the Followill brothers —Caleb, Nathan, Jared and Matthew— like to get their grub on when they’re not on the road.
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Our cup runneth over with Kings of Leon VH1 Storytellers clips! The band apparently played such a long set in their home city of Franklin, TN that this rocking performance of “Crawl,” the fifth single from their monster 2008 album Only by the Night, unfortunately won’t be a part of the episode when it premieres Friday, May 13 at 11 p.m. ET/PT. But we’re such fans of that album, and this barnburner of a song in particular, that we couldn’t let the footage just sit around gathering dust!
Sadly, we’re disqualified from entering the Road to Slane Castle contest, but for all you fans who don’t work here, go enter! You could win a trip to Ireland to meet the band and see them play at Slane Castle, or a signed instrument from one of the band members plus free admission to Kings of Leon shows this year.
RELATED:
Kings of Leon Take The Stage In Nashville For Storytellers
Kings of Leon, “Slow Night, So Long (Live on VH1 Storytellers)”
Kings of Leon, “Radioactive (Live on VH1 Storytellers)”
