{"id":1069816,"date":"2026-07-05T10:54:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T10:54:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1069816\/"},"modified":"2026-07-05T10:54:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T10:54:17","slug":"review-rock-n-roll-brothers-kings-of-leon-show-their-staying-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1069816\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Rock ‘n’ roll brothers Kings of Leon show their staying power"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kings of Leon headlined Co-op Live on Saturday night<\/p>\n

Caleb Followill of Kings Of Leon performing earlier this month(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Over the past 48 hours, rumours have been swirling about whether some rock ‘n’ roll brothers will be taking to the stage in east Manchester.<\/p>\n

But on Saturday night, more than 20,000 music fans did not have to wait long to see it happen. It was the Followills, not the Gallaghers, who lit up the Co-op Live<\/a>, the next door neighbour of the Etihad Stadium where Oasis are being touted<\/a> to play a near two week residency next summer.<\/p>\n

Can it really be 23 years since the Tennessee four piece’s bourbon-soaked, southern American rock grabbed hold of the indie scene and made those three brothers and their cousin stars?<\/p>\n

Click here <\/a>for the latest on Manchester’s food & drink scene, gigs and more in our CityLife newsletter<\/strong><\/p>\n

Can it really be more than two decades since they smashed through nu-metal and other stodge of that period, and, along with the likes of their fellow Americans The Strokes, the White Stripes and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, brought a breath of fresh air and huge excitement with their garage rock revival?<\/p>\n

Break out singles Red Morning Light, which was the soundtrack to many teenagers’ FIFA 2004 gaming careers, and Molly’s Chambers from 2003’s debut Youth & Young Manhood, elevated them to rock royalty. With their next few albums, they entered their imperial phase.<\/p>\n

2005’s Aka Shake Heartbreak brought The Bucket, and 2007 the more moody, fuller sound of Because of The Times. Watching the band’s video to On Call from that album was a seminal moment in this author’s teenage musical discovery.<\/p>\n

But it was the following year’s Only by the Night which saw the Tennessee four piece go truly stratospheric. Sex on Fire was a number one single and its follow-up, Use Somebody, went in at number two on the UK singles chart, back when guitar bands still did that.<\/p>\n

A huge crowd was treated to a career-spanning, near two hour set, which leant heavily on those first four albums, while newer tracks Supersoaker and Waste a Moment fitted in seamlessly among the older cuts.<\/p>\n

Moustachioed drummer Nathan, the sole member to retain the Followill’s original trademark long hair, bassist Jared, lead guitarist Matthew and lead singer Caleb have kept the show on the road since their early days in the late 90s.<\/p>\n

Caleb was on chatty form as the American rockers honoured their homeland on Independence Day, and paid tribute to this Co-Op Live crowd as one of the best he has experienced during his trips to Manchester.<\/p>\n

He was made redundant during several tracks, the sell out crowd bellowing back every verse, vocal harmony and chorus back at him.<\/p>\n

In contrast to another set of brothers, there was no drama as they sped through their set, hit after hit, the pace not slowing until album cuts such as Cold Desert.<\/p>\n

Although they might not be able to fill 12 nights, this show was a reminder of just how the Kings of Leon continue to enthral their fans, young and old.<\/p>\n

Star rating: 4\/5<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kings of Leon headlined Co-op Live on Saturday night Caleb Followill of Kings Of Leon performing earlier this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1069817,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,1936,393,62517,4884,2465,696,16,15],"class_list":["post-1069816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manchester","tag-britain","tag-co-op-live","tag-england","tag-etihad-stadium","tag-great-britain","tag-manchester","tag-manchester-music","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116867004660686114","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1069816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1069816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1069816\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1069817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1069816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1069816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1069816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}