Posted under mtv
By Haley Murphy
As thousands of fans stood outside of NBC studios this morning for “Today,” it felt like a flashback to the JoBros’ appearance on the show earlier this month, but this time, “Today” hosted another set of brothers to their summer stage: crossover indie rock darlings Kings of Leon. It was the sixth early-morning concert I’ve attended this summer, and just like the others, the Kings of Leon performance was well worth the early wake-up call.
The Tennessee natives — three brothers and their cousin — attracted hordes of followers who stood in the pouring rain waiting for the show to start. Despite the wet surroundings and the family-friendly environment, guitarist Matthew Followill still made a rock star’s entrace, lazily smoking a cigarette while tuning his guitar as the brothers talked amongst themselves.
The rain finally let up right after a quick soundcheck, just in time for a dry performance. As the umbrellas came down and the tents were put up, the band ripped into their majestic hit “Use Somebody.” The band, who first gained a following in Europe and have spent a lot of time there recently, commented about how nice it was to be home and how much they were looking forward to their upcoming U.S. tour.
Following a few minutes of addressing the comparison to U2 (”Those are pretty big shoes to fill,” said singer Caleb), the band finished up the set with “Notion” and “Sex on Fire,” both from their fourth album Only By the Night (which just attained platinum status). Despite their huge success, they seemed humbled by the huge crowd and took time to thank the crowd for stopping by. That took a while, especially considering they attracted the largest crowd in the concert series’ history, with over 20,000 ticket requests. The Followills may not be as big as the Jonas Brothers, but they’ve got that leg up.