Kings of Leon: Ready to claim their U.S. crown

By rights, they should be playing KeyArena rather than the Paramount on Monday night.

But Kings of Leon, one of the great contemporary American rock bands, isn't as big in its native land as it is in England and Europe, where it regularly plays 20,000-seaters and headlines huge festivals.

"Only By The Night," the Tennessee band's new album, which debuted at No. 5 in Billboard last week, may change that. The band's fourth CD in five years, it's the most accessible, with lead singer/songwriter Caleb Followill shedding the rumbling, mumbly vocalizing of the previous discs and taking care to make himself understood clearly.

The songwriting is more direct, with fewer dark, gothic, character-driven Southern tales and more partylike songs, most notably the hard-rocking "Crawl" and the new tongue-in-cheek single "Sex on Fire."

Kings of Leon has opened here for Bob Dylan, U2 and the Strokes (one of their main influences), as well as headlining their own shows, and have toured with the Rolling Stones and Pearl Jam. (Bassist Jared Followill — it's a family band, three brothers, one cousin, all Followills — says of PJ's Eddie Vedder: "That's the kind of rock star I'd like to be.") That kind of superstar endorsement is another indication of how great Kings of Leon are. Their tight musicianship and smart, inventive songs renew your faith in rock 'n' roll.

Opening the show here is We Are Scientists, a lighthearted rock band from Brooklyn, and the Stills, a melodic Canadian rock band.

Patrick MacDonald: 206-464-2312 or pmacdonald@seattletimes.com