You gotta know when to fold ’em and for Kings of Leon, that time is now. Lead singer Caleb Followill is suffering from “vocal issues and exhaustion” and thus the multi-platinum selling band is cancelling their U.S. tour. And nope, they won’t be rescheduling dates. They’re refunding ticket fares, which fans can presumably use to get to Canada to see the band because only international dates are still on.
The official statement says, “The band is devastated, but in order to give their fans the shows they deserve, they need to take this break. Unfortunately, the US dates cannot be rescheduled due to the band’s international tour schedule.”
Now, we could whine and complain about this, or we could think about it. The music industry isn’t exactly booming. Bands (and more importantly, record labels) aren’t just giving back their hard-earned money for nothing. Followill must be seriously exhausted to be willing to flush that much cash down the drains — granted, they’ve still got their international tour dates on lock, so they’re getting something. Of course, if you follow Followill on Twitter, you know there might be a bigger issue at hand. The singer tweeted, “I love our fans so much. I know you guys aren’t stupid. I can’t lie. There are problems in our band bigger than not drinking enough Gatorade.”
They aren’t cancelling other tour dates, so maybe this is just time for a heart-to-heart, or time apart, or whatever they need to do to keep the band from imploding. Maybe this is a blessing in disguise, or maybe they’ll become The Strokes. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.
Source: THR
