KINGS OF LEON TOUR/ALBUM

KINGS OF LEON ANNOUNCE 1st LEG OF U.S. TOUR
COACHELLA AND BONNAROO APPEARANCES CONFIRMED
LETTERMAN AND LENO PERFORMANCES CONFIRMED

Kings Of Leon

RCA Records is proud to announce that Kings of Leon have confirmed the first leg of a nationwide U.S. tour. The tour is in support of the new record, Because Of The Times, to be released on April 3. Bookended by appearances at the Coachella and Bonnaroo festivals, the tour will start at Coachella and heads to Seattle on May 2. After the June 14 date in Columbus, OH, the tour finishes at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. More touring is to follow during the summer and into the fall and winter of 2007. The complete list of dates for the first leg of the tour is below.

On March 26, one week before release date, Kings of Leon return to the “Late Show with David Letterman” to perform the single “On Call.” One month later, on April 27, just before the Coachella performance, the band will return to the “Tonight Show with Jay Leno.”

To make “Because Of The Times,” the band turned once again to producers Ethan Johns and Angelo Petraglia. It is the Tennessee-based band’s first record since 2004’s widely acclaimed Aha Shake Heartbreak, which firmly established the Followills – Nathan, Caleb, Jared and Matthew – as international stars.

Coming off an immense amount of touring over the last two years both as headliners, world-wide festival staples and openers for the likes of U2, Bob Dylan and Pearl Jam, the ambitious and eclectic Because Of The Times (the title refers to an annual preachers’ conference the boys attended growing up) is Kings of Leon’s most diverse collection yet and represents a major evolution for the band. Brimming with ideas, it represents a huge leap forward both in songwriting and musical prowess.

“We took the limitations off of ourselves,” says frontman/rhythm guitarist Caleb. “We went into the studio with an open mind, thinking let’s do whatever it takes to get these songs to the next level. Because we really have a lot of music inside of us and a lot of different places we can go.”

Adds drummer/singer Nathan: “We weren’t scared to try anything. I think that’s the difference between this album and the last. We weren’t timid at all. Every song showed us something we had inside of ourselves that we didn’t know existed, which enabled us to be even bolder on the next song.”

Early media response to Because Of The Times has been glowing. The Observer Monthly in England awarded the record five stars, while in America, Esquire hailed Because Of The Times is “a classic rock album in the truest sense,” and Filter said, the record “is the Kings’ fiery repentance for unplanned pregnancies, black Camaros and the sins of the road, and it is their finest confession to date.” American Songwriter said the record is “heavy on the emotion and insistent hooks that remain KOL trademarks,” and Relix noted “the Kings of Leon may be fit for a crown.”

The tour dates are below:
04.28 Indio, CA Coachella Festival
05.02 Seattle, WA Moore Theater
05.03 Portland, OR Crystal Ballroom
05.05 Denver, CO Ogden
05.06 Kansas City, MO Voodoo Lounge @ Harrah’s
05.07 Tulsa, OK Cains
05.09 Austin, TX Stubbs
05.11 New Orleans, LA House of Blues
05.12 Houston, TX Warehouse Live
05.13 Dallas, TX House of Blues
05.15 Indianapolis, IN Vogue
05.17 Milwaukee, WI Rave
05.18 Minneapolis, MN First Ave
05.19 Chicago, IL Riviera
05.21 Louisville, KY Headliners
05.22 Cleveland, OH House of Blues
05.24 Cincinnati, OH Bogarts
05.25 St. Louis, MO Pageant
06.01 Atlanta, GA Tabernacle
06.02 Asheville, NC Orange Peel
06.04 NBC TV CONAN O’BRIEN
06.05 New York, NY Roseland
06.06 Boston, MA Avalon
06.07 Philadelphia, PA Electric Factory
06.12 Toronto, ONT Kool Haus
06.15 Manchester, TN Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival