Live Photos: Kings of Leon reclaim their old status at Silverstone Circuit
A few days before their debut album Youth & Young Manhood turns 21, Kings of Leon reclaimed a sense of their old indie authenticity as they rattled through old classic cuts and the post-punk-adjacent angle of their new album as they played Silverstone Circuit last night. While the venue is usually used to racing F1 cars, the American stalwarts tried their best to match that high-octane energy.
The band have been dotting around Britain for the past few weeks, even sparking secret set rumours when they were spotted at Glastonbury during a break in their tour. Across the course of their shows, they’ve kept their setlists fresh, juggling all the hits from their impressive tenure with deeper cuts for the firmer followers of the Followills. That much was clear when they dropped ‘The Bucket’, one of the 2000s finest indie tunes, second in their set at Silverstone.
The goal of the tour is ostensibly to promote their new album, Can We Please Have Fun, but as that title suggests, there is a sense that after two decades, they’re also just looking to unwind and roll back the years. Thus, it came as little surprise when they followed ‘The Bucket’ with another early classic in the shape of ‘Taper Jean Girl’, before airing ‘Supersoaker’ on its tour debut.
“When you have a band, there’s a bond like no other, and when you have family, you have a bond like no other,” Caleb said ahead of the shows. “We have both of those things. I thought, if we put all our energy toward something, who is gonna stop us? Who can stop us except us?” Despite fractions over the years, it appears that their bond is now as solid as it has ever been.
With a confident and assured footing now firmly planted for the band, they clearly looked interested in exploring new avenues, evidenced by the edgy sound of the new record, which borrows the penchant for discordance dominant in today’s post-punk scene. Opening up a Grand Prix weekend also certainly seems like an extension of this openness to new ideas.
“We are incredibly excited to have global icons Kings of Leon join our line-up for the 2024 British Grand Prix,” Silverstone’s Commercial Director Nick Read said prior to the event. “Our long-term ambition has always been to attract the biggest and best artists in the world to Silverstone to put on a spectacular show for the British fans. With Kings of Leon now joining Stormzy, Rudimental and Pete Tong on next year’s line-up, it’s fair to say the 2024 British Grand Prix is going to be bigger and better than ever before!”
As you can see from the photos below, the old indie icons certainly kicked things off in style, as Self Esteem did in her ravishing support slot, rattling through a range of hits – from ‘Pyro’ to ‘Fans’ – before finishing on the pop singalong of ‘Use Somebody’.
