Remember that seemingly sadistic teacher you had at school who wouldn’t let you go to the washroom, even though you really had to, were holding it, squeezing your legs together and thought you were gonna wet your pants at any second if you weren’t allowed to go? That’s Kings Of Leon.
It seems Kings Of Leon will inadvertently let birds use them as toilets, but they won’t let other bands use toilets and showers at festivals.
According to a blog entry on Groove Armada‘s website, Kings Of Leon blocked off an entire bank of showers and toilets in the artists’ village area at the Stafford, England day of Britain’s V Fest earlier this summer. Of course, this led to an argument.
See, it seemed there was a large line for the washrooms in the artist area, mainly because there was not sufficient water supply and people were getting soap stuck in their eyes in the showers. While Groove Armada’s Andy Cato was in line, he says he noticed an empty bank of showers on the other side of some temporary fencing and made for them.
“Out of nowhere came a very large man. ‘Reserved for the Kings of Leon,’ he said, ‘and so is this half of the artist toilets,’” Cato wrote on Monday.
“It’s hard to believe someone actually phoned their agent and said ‘listen I know that Paul Weller, Kasabian, Florence, Stereophonics, Groove Armada + co are all sharing the artist village and facilities, but we require that you put a fence down the middle of the toilets and showers and put a large man there to keep them just from us.’ But somebody did.”
Cato says he was “scolded all over for a couple of minutes” before he and bandmate Tom Findlay were in the catering tent and heading to the dressing room to change. But they didn’t get there because “loads of massive blokes in suits and shades came out of nowhere shouting ‘don’t move, don’t move DO NOT move’ whilst pushing people back to the sides of the track. Was it Obama?”
Findlay said he was going to the dressing room to get changed for the duo’s show, but the “big man” wouldn’t let him. An argument resulted before it became clear why the duo were being prevented from heading to the dressing room with other artists.
“4 blacked out range rovers came round the corner. One for each King of Leon,” he writes. “As it became clear what all this presidential fuss was about, tom gave the worldwide one fingered sign of dislike as the cars went past. The last one stopped.
“The drummer got out making ‘come on then’ type gestures. ‘Come on then’ tom gestured back. Instead, the drummer went back behind his bodyguards, and, pointing towards Tom, Paul Weller, and the various other musicians who were pinned by the side of the road, said ‘I want them removed.’”
A promoter came back and apologized, but Cato writes that he was a little confused about the entire thing.
“Bearing in mind this was all happening backstage in the area shared by all the bands, it’s hard to see what the Kings thought they were protecting themselves from. Was Paul Weller going to hound them for autographs? Was Florence going to wrestle them to the ground? Or maybe Stereophonics were going to ask them to write ‘your sex is on fire’ on an album sleeve?
“Nevertheless the Kings had 4 minutes before going onstage to enjoy all those showers and toilets they’d kept to themselves.”
Groove Armada are touring behind their recently released White Light album. You can see them here:
Sept. 19 Ibiza, Spain @ We Love Space Sundays
Sept. 25 Gold Coast, Australia @ Parklife Gold Coast
Sept. 26 Perth, Australia @ Parklife Perth
Oct. 2 Melbourne, Australia @ Parklife Melbourne
Oct. 3 Sydney, Australia @ Parklife Sydney
Oct. 4 Adelaide, Australia @ Parklife Adelaide
Oct. 7 Leeds, England @ O2 Academy Leeds
Oct. 8 Glasgow, Scotland @ O2 Academy Glasgow
Oct. 9 Manchester, England @ Manchester Academy
Oct. 11 Norwich, England @ University Of East Anglia
Oct. 12 Bristol, England @ O2 Academy Bristol
Oct. 14 Birmingham, England @ O2 Academy Birmingham
Oct. 15-16 London, England @ O2 Academy Brixton
Kings Of Leon’s new album, Come Around Sundown, is out Oct. 19. Pigeons, take note — the band are playing here:
Sept. 17 West Palm Beach, FL @ Cruzan Amphitheatre
Sept. 18 Tampa, FL @ Ford Amphitheatre
Sept. 20 Birmingham, AL @ Verizon Wireless Music Center Birmingham
Sept. 22 Spring, TX @ Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
Sept. 23 Dallas, TX @ Superpages.com Center
Oct. 10 Sao Paulo, Brazil @ SWU Festival
Dec. 8 Hamburg, Germany @ O2 World Hamburg
Dec. 9 Frankfurt, Germany @ Festhalle Frankfurt
Dec. 13 Manchester, England @ Manchester Evening News Arena
Dec. 14 Sheffield, England @ Hallam FM Arena
Dec. 16-17 Birmimgham, England @ National Indoor Arena
Dec. 21 Liverpool, England @ O2 Area Liverpool
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