Had a tough weekend? Kings of Leon sure did! The band cut a Dallas show short Friday night, yanked the following night's gig in Houston, and essentially admitted they're having bigtime internal problems. It wasn't exactly the Alamo, but it was like a really awkward episode of King of the Hill.
UPDATE: Several hours after The Amp published this story the band decided to cancel its full U.S. tour. "We are so sorry to say Kings of Leon are canceling their entire US tour due to Caleb Followill suffering from vocal issues and exhaustion," reads a statement published on TMZ. "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." That means the band is nixing nearly 30 dates. All tickets will be refunded.
So what on earth happened that led to all this?! The drama began at Dallas' Gexa Energy Pavilion Friday night, where frontman Caleb Followill did a whole lot of chatting from the stage, but not that much singing (via video posted on Billboard). He told the crowd his voice was "completely, 100 percent gone," asking them to help him sing "every word with me." He swore, "Just for the record, I'm not drunk, I'm just f-----' hot." He said, "I'm about to fall down here, because I'm so doggone hot." He called his wife "the prettiest girl in the whole f-----' world." He praised the crowd repeatedly. And after 11 songs, he ditched the stage, explaining, "I'm gonna go backstage for a second, I'm gonna vomit, I'm gonna drink a beer, and I'm gonna come back out and play three more songs."
It's possible he accomplished three of those four goals, but he definitely didn't come through on the last promise, so Caleb's embarrassed bandmates grabbed the microphone and did some hardcore buck passing: "We're so unbelievably sorry, there's no words right now, honestly, it's beyond our control. Caleb's just a little unfit to play the rest of the show. We love you guys, we're so sorry, I know you guys f-----' hate us, I'm so sorry, f------ burn our records, I don't know what to say, I can't apologize enough. It's really not our fault, it's Caleb, he can't play the rest of the show. We will be back as soon as possible. We would play right now if we could. F------ hate Caleb, not us." Tell us how you really feel, guys.
The official explanation for Caleb Followill's behavior was, no duh, exhaustion and dehydration. But after the show, bassist Jared Followhill tweeted, "Dallas, I cannot begin to tell you how sorry I am. There are internal sicknesses & problems that have needed to be addressed. No words." A few hours later, he added, "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."
The Dallas date was rescheduled for September 21st and the Houston show was supposed to take place the following night, but since the full tour has been pulled, that's not gonna happen. Can the band iron out these "problems" before returning to the road overseas in late September? These guys love to brawl, so bring popcorn, folks, these shows could get interesting.
Here's a fantastic idea -- follow The Amplifier on Twitter!
[Photo of the dude all the Followills threw under the bus: Theo Wargo/WireImage.com]