Kings Of Leon paid tribute to Scotland tonight (July 10) during their headline T In The Park performance – by hailing the famous drinking heritage bestowed upon the country.
Coming onstage as the sun set over the Kinross crowd, the US band treated fans to a greatest hits set that included the likes of ‘The Bucket’, ‘Taper Jean Girl’ and ‘Molly’s Chambers’.
Midway through their Main Stage set, singer Caleb Followill revealed the reason he likes Scotland so much – because of its drinking legacy. “If there’s anywhere where it isn’t frowned upon to drink, its here, right?” the frontman said, after swigging from a spirit bottle (washed down with some blackcurrant juice).
“I hope I don’t fuck this up,” he continued, as he launched into the tape-echoed guitar intro to one of the band’s best received songs of the night, ‘Sex On Fire’.
Followill was in chatty mood throughout the night, at one point telling the massive Main Stage crowd: “It’s fun to have some friends out there.”
Earlier on, a tremolo-infused version of ‘My Party’ saw Followill switch between two microphones – the extra one for the high vocal parts in the song. For the follow up, the band played a much slower version of early hit ‘Molly’s Chambers’, though the crowd still sang along heartily with its chorus.
The singer also dedicated the band’s entire set to his cousin, Nacho, who has just had a baby named Molly Followill.
During ‘Closer’, guitarist Matthew Followill played his instrument with his teeth, recalling Jimi Hendrix‘s famous ‘Hey Joe’ technique.
“Everybody having fun?” the singer said after the track. “I’ve been looking forward to this for a long, long time, he continued. “It’s good to be here – come on, let’s have a party tonight.” Towards the end of the gig, Followill paid tribute to T In The Park, saying:
“This is one of the festivals that we look forward to the most. We’re home, right? We love you guys very much. We love you because you guys have made us…Kings Of Leon. And guess what – we’re gonna be here forever.”
The band rounded off their set with grandiose renditions of ‘Use Somebody’ and a ‘Black Thumbnail’, the latter of which saw the singer smash his guitar through the band’s bass drum, before waving to the crowd and leaving the stage.
Photo Gallery – all the highlights from T In The Park
Blog – T In The Park: how was it for you?
Kings Of Leon played:
‘Be Somebody’
‘Taper Jean Girl’
‘My Party’
‘Molly’s Chambers’
‘Red Morning Light’
‘Fans’
‘Closer’
‘Crawl’
‘Four Kicks’
‘Charmer’
‘Sex On Fire’
‘The Bucket’
‘Notion’
‘On Call’
‘Slow Night, So Long’
‘Knocked Up’
‘Manhattan’
‘Use Somebody’
‘Black Thumbnail’
NME.COM is coming live from T In The Park this weekend (July 10-12). Stay tuned for the latest news, photo galleries and video interviews.
Plus, make sure you get next week’s issue of NME, on UK newsstands from July 15, for the ultimate T In The Park 2009 review.