We speak of hard-partying, hard-rocking band Kings of Leon, whose members hail from the Sooner State. In the midst of the group’s U.S. tour, the guys decided to call it quits with 29 dates to go.
Heck, even reportedly overheated singer Caleb Followill threw in the towel in the middle of KoL’s Dallas gig. After telling the assembled audience, “I’m gonna go backstage and I’m gonna vomit. I’m gonna drink a beer and I’m gonna come back out and play three more songs,” the Lion King never returned to the stage.
The reason? “Exhaustion,” according to the act’s rep, who said, “The band is devastated, but in order to give their fans the shows they deserve, they need to take this break.”
On Twitter, bassist/brother Jared Followill told a different story: “There are internal sicknesses & problems that have needed to be addressed … I can’t lie. There are problems in our band big ger than not drinking enough Gatorade.”
Celeb gossip website dlisted.com wasn’t taking the news too kindly, writing, “Some rock stars these days are so damn fragile. I mean, Iggy Pop is at least 300 years old, all of his internal organs and his sweat glands disintegrated into dust years ago, and he’d still perform in the middle of a volcano while a herd of elephants shit on him from above. The Texas heat and pigeon shit? That’s child’s play to Iggy!” It doesn’t surprise Chicken-Fried News that the issue was more than triple-digit temps; after all, if you can’t stand the heat, the solution is not more alcohol.
With no plans to reschedule the remaining American dates, KoL fans with tickets will be refunded, but Rolling Stone magazine reports that insurance provider Lloyd’s of London may have to shell out $15 million to venues and promoters whose balance sheets are impacted negatively by the cancellations.
To bring up a title from one of the band’s 2003 singles, that’s a lot of “Wasted Time.”
This article appears in Aug 3-9, 2011.