Kings of Leon, the hard working alternative rockers, are continuing to expand their tour schedule for the fall as they make preparations for another push on the road to support “Only By the Night,” their latest chart topping album.

Recently, the band wrapped up their spring arena outing. They will now head overseas for over a month to tour Europe before coming back to the US later this summer. On August 9, they will kick off another North American leg in Morrison, CO. Their trek will run through the middle of October. Later this month most of the new dates will be going on sale. The website for Kings of Leon contains information on the overseas itinerary of the band as well as on-sale dates.

“Only By the Night” was released in September. It debuted on Billboard’s 200 chart at No. 4. In Australia and the UK it was a bigger seller. In both countries it topped the charts. In just the UK nearly 2 million copies of the album have sold. Worldwide sales have exceeded 5 million copies. The set is the band’s fourth studio album. It was recorded in Nashville, their home town, along with Jacquire King (Modest Mouse, Tom Waits) and Angelo Petraglia.

This year Kings of Leon and “Only by the Night” received three Grammy nominations. They were nominated for Best Album. “Sex on Fire,” the first single from the album, received nominations for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals and Best Rock Song. “Sex on Fire” won the Grammy for Best Rock Performance.

Reportedly Kings of Leon is working on their follow up album. Caleb Followill, lead singer of the band in a recent interview said, some of their new tracks will be experimental in feel. They are very different structurally from anything that is out there. Many of them don’t have choruses.

The “Notion” video from the band’s upcoming fourth single from “Night” is currently streaming on their MySpace page.

It’s easy being cynical about “live” music’s current state during this era of lip synching artists and pre-recorded tracks. However Kings of Leon proved rock and roll music is still alive and doing well with their booming and scintillating performance that took place on May 8 at University of Miami in the Bank United Center.

Hardcore fans will say that in terms of live performing bands there isn’t any better than Kings of Leon. It would be hard arguing with them based on their driving performance that kept fans standing throughout the entire concert of nearly two hours. There were moments, particularly during their out of mind “Molly’s Chamber” rendition, when the band began crossing into legendary performance territory such as those by Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin and The Who.

Caleb Followill along with brothers Nathan on drums and Jared on bass as well as Matthew Followill their cousin on lead guita,r make up Kings of Leon. The band has spent lots of time out on the road. It really shows. The groups has really learned its craft. The flashing lights were a stage affectation that was unnecessary and not present in their other shows. The performance was bone rattling and perfectly in sync.

Caleb, guitarist and lead singer, didn’t offer any banter. In fact he hardly moved from his position of center stage during the show’s first half. Kings of Leon delivered explosive song after explosive song. They performed material from all of their albums as well as promoting “Only By The Night,” their latest set. Crowd pleasing renditions were delivered of “The Bucket” and “Taper Jean Girl.” These weren’t just record version replicas, but showed the band instead to be a group that can take things to a whole new level when performing live.

Caleb finally paused long enough to address the crowd, giving the impression that he wasn’t feeling too good. He said no matter where you may be if you are a human being you will have nights where you think you can’t do it. But you just go out to the stage anyway. Tonight was a night like that for me, but thanks for being so great. Truthfully, the band has performed better, which is amazing considering the electricity and power they were able to deliver to the 7,000 member audience who recognized all the songs from their first few notes.

One of the songs that brought a big roar from the crowd was “Black Thumbnail,” a tune from their album “Because of the Times.” The unique voice of Caleb hovered perfectly over the instruments. The crowd instantly and predictably reacted to “Sex on Fire.” The hit single was delivered with heart pounding power and confidence. Another hit “Use Somebody” from their new album sounded as if they had been playing the tune for years and yet was still edgy and raw. You have to wonder if it’s still too early in the band’s career for them to release a live album.

The lead guitar of Matthew Followill contributes a sound that is as unique as the vocals of Caleb. There are moments such as their encore “Knocked Up” rendition where Matthew displays finesse while allowing the song to be carried by the vocals. However for a majority of the night Matthew had the arena on fire with his driving riffs, carrying tunes such as “My Party” to a whole new level.

At one time this band opened for Bob Dylan and U2. The performance at University of Miami proved that this former opening act has moved up a level to rock and roll superstar status.

Kings of Leon, following up on the success from “Only By the Night,” their latest album, is headed out on a spring headlining tour to fill up arenas.

The southern rock Grammy nominated band will be kicking off their trek in Boston on April 19 and currently are set to visit 17 cities on their spring outing.

“Only By the Night” was released in September and debuted on Billboard’s 200 chart at No. 4. It became a top seller very quickly in the iTunes store. The band’s fourth studio album was recorded in their hometown of Nashville, with Jacquire King (Tom Waits and Modest Mouse) and Angelo Petraglia producing.

“Sex on Fire,” the first single from the album, is No. 1 currently on the Billboard’s chart Modern Rock Hot Tracks. The song has been in that position for nine weeks. In December “Use Somebody,” the album’s second single, hit the airwaves. The band’s website has videos for the two songs streaming.

Kings of Leon has been nominated for three Grammy awards. The award ceremony will take place on February 8. Their latest album received the Best Album nomination and the hit single “Sex on Fire” was nominated for the Best Rock Song award as well as Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.

What’s curious about claiming to be “most improved” is it means having to admit to two things: that you sucked once and if you really want to be considered as truly great you need to continue to improve. That is how Kings of Leon has faced posterity in 2008. They are unquestionably the most improved band of 2007. “Because of the Times,” their latest album was so surprising and exciting not only because it was from a band that previously was fairly incompetent, but because it also seemed to promise that a necessary curve upward would follow without a doubt. This from a band that had a two note hit single along with a singer who sounded like he couldn’t sing. “Because of the Times” isn’t one of those one shot wonder albums leaving nowhere to go for the band. It sounds genuinely like a step forward and onto to bigger and better things.

The bigger things, aside from their headlining appearance at Glastonbury this year, came with their album “Only by the Night.” Everything, literally, about this album is bigger than any of their previous work, including the influences, lyrical range, production, ambition and melodic scope. Every one of the album’s first six songs is excellent. “Closer,” the opening track rides on a guitar line in an Audioslave Tom Morello ballad mode and the effects are stunning. “Crawl” is like a glamorous relative of “The Seeker” by The Who. “Sex on Fire” may be one of this year’s most arresting singles., while “Use Somebody” is one of those big-hearted and tender ballads that works similarly to “Parachutes” from Coldplay. The quality does dip a bit on a few of the later tracks like “I Want You,” which initially starts with a good idea but never really goes anywhere. The album highlights come fast and furious. They are quite impressive and on occasion breathtaking.

Caleb Followill is what binds all of these elements together. He has turned in a performance that didn’t seem possible. His singing style at one time consisted of garbling words deliberately. He seemed to rely on quirks and ticks to give the music of his band’s some form of personality, but not any more. Caleb Followill has finally discovered what his identity truly is as a vocalist. All through this album he is clear, proud and confident, as he discovers and displays subtleties that are unexpected from his bluesy rasp. The first few times listening to the album it’s hard focusing on what the other band members are doing because Caleb’s presence is the dominant one. In addition his vocal melodies are more expansive and expressive than they were before. With lyrics like “Cold Desert’s,” this rock frontman performance is the best of 2008.

In terms of the band, they showed on their previous album that they were evolving into the type of rock band which nods frequently in the direction of great artists work without imitating them outright. The best kind, in other words. The trend continues on this album. Their two greatest influences are still U2 and Interpol just like on their album “Because of the Times.” However there are other influences here as well. The exotic guitar sweep of “Revelry” is most likely a result from listening to Arcade Fire intently. “Crawl’s” snarling base line can be traced back to “Bodysnatchers” from Radiohead at least in its tone. Some of their more fiery lyrics and skyscraping melodies bring Tom Petty, Neil Young and Pearl Jam to mind. Throughout the album Jared Followill’s bass is reminiscent of John Deacon from Queen, particularly on “Seventeen.”

I would call “Only by the Night” the best rock album this year if the second half were as good as its first half. It may get the crown anyway. It is a great record as is, from a band growing in ability, confidence and stature by the day. At one time Kings of Leon generated enough skepticism to be branded as the Milli Vanilli of garage rock. If you were able to see past their immaturity and image back in 2003′s heady days and made a prediction that this band would wind up having a fruitful and long career, my hat is off to you.

Kings of Leon, the Southern alt-rockers, have announced the itinerary for their North American tour this fall that will back “Only By the Night,” the band’s upcoming album.

The tour will kick off in Las Vegas on October 11 and will stop in over 20 cities through the middle of November. We Are Scientists is going to be one of the openers on the tour. The Stills will join them for all of their dates in October, with The Whigs taking over the shows in November.

Kings of Leon will have a warm up for their upcoming trek with a New York city concert to be held on September 23. The event will mark the release date for “Only By the Night.” Openers for the concert will be The Whigs.

The band’s new album was recorded in Nashville, TN, their home town. The set features “Sex on Fire,” the lead off single. It premiered on the band’s website on August 5. According to a recent press release, this week the group was in Los Angeles shooting the single’s video along with Sophie Muller, the director.

Beginning on September 1, Kings of Leon will be hosting a series of movies documenting the making of their new album “Only By the Night” on their website as well as MySpace page.

Kings of Leon has filled dates for their second leg on the US tour the band is launching next month.

The Southern alt-rockers will kick things off with two nights in Minneapolis in early August and will be hitting festivals, theaters and clubs coast to coast. Appearances at Bumbershoot Festival in Seattle and Lollapalooza in Chicago are included in the run. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, the garage rock trio, will be a special guest on this outing.

The upcoming trek is a follow up to the US spring sold out tour as well as UK sold out trek that Kings of Leon will be wrapping up on July 22. The band in November and December will return to the UK for a run of arena dates. Information on the upcoming UK shows are listed on Kings of Leon’s website.

The band is comprised of brothers Caleb, Matthew and Jared Followill along with Nathan Followill, their cousin. The group is supporting “Because of the Times,” their third album. The set was released in April and made it to the No. 25 spot on Billboard’s 200 chart. The album follows “Aha Shake Heartbreak” from 2004. Critics have praised the set as a big leap forward in terms of the band’s musical prowess and songwriting.

Nathan Followill, the band’s drummer said, I think that people expect us to have a certain sound. We tried throwing them off with this record. We weren’t scared trying things. That’s the big difference between this record and our last one.

Trying new things mean lots of firsts for the band. “Knocked Up” is their first song lasting over five minutes. “On Call” was the first to have vocal effects. “Black Thumbnail” is their first tune having a real arena rock anthem. The album was the first time as well that all members equally contributed to each song.

Nathan Followill said that part of our band achieving a new maturity level. There’s nothing quite like getting to tour with such consummate pros as U2 in 2005 and Pearl Jam and Bob Dylan in 2006. It forced a young band like us to grow up very fast.

The MySpace page for Kings of Leon has some “Because of the Times” songs streaming.

Kings of Leon has started to build a fall tour of the US. Currently it includes several appearances with the band Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.

The Kings of Leon band is comprised of three brothers along with their cousin. The group plans to announce a run that is more extensive as the summer progresses. For now they plan to kick their trek off in San Francisco on September 4. September’s calendar shows stops in five cities, following two make up shows in August in Minneapolis as well as an appearance on August 5 at Lollapalooza festival in Chicago.

Kings of Leon is continuing to back “Because of the Times,” the band’s latest album. Recently on their website it was announced that Black Rebel Motorcycle Club would be the opening act on their upcoming fall tour. Three dates so far have been announced with the Rebels, including Los Angeles and San Francisco leading the trek off.

The band turned to producers Angelo Petraglia and Ethan Jones once again when making “Because of the Times.” They both worked on “Aha Shake Heartbreak” the previous 2004 release from Kings of Leon.

In a recent press release Caleb Followill, rhythm guitarist and frontman for Kings of Leon said, we took away our limitations. We went to the studio having open minds. We we thinking we wanted to do whatever it would take to get our songs into the next level. We have lots of music that is inside of us with lots of difference places to go.

The lineup for Kings of Leon features Caleb Followill on rhythm guitar and lead vocals, Jared Followill on the bass, Nathan Followill on drums and Matthew Followill, the brothers’ cousin, on lead guitar. Their evangelist minister father raised the brothers while out on the road.