A crowd of tens of thousand of people erupted as red smoke signalled the entrance of American rock band Kings of Leon at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg on Saturday.
Three songs into the set lead singer Caleb Followill finally addressed eager fans.
“Is everybody having a good time?” he said to cheers from an electric crowd, some of whom blew bubbles and burst glitter bombs into the night sky.
“It’s great to be here with all of you. Thanks for supporting us,” he said immediately before launching into the song The Immortals.
The band was set to play their first South African concert in March but had to postpone the event due to an injury to the drummer.
Kings of Leon, or KOL commonly known by most of its followers, are made up of brothers Caleb, Nathan and Jared, and their cousin Matthew.
“It’s good to be in your house … We’ve always wanted to come to South Africa, we like it so much, we gonna come back a few more times,” Caleb said to a cheering crowd.
Rotating lights in purple and yellow, and close-up video shots incorporated with still pictures, lit up both sides of the stage.
“It’s a beautiful night, there ain’t rain in the air,” Caleb said.
Heavy rains were expected for Johannesburg on Saturday, but held out for Kings of Leon fans.
Favourites such as Notion, Knocked up, Revelry and Sex on Fire were belted out to the crowd, before the band left the stage, only to be called back for an encore.
After several minutes of chanting “we want more” and stamping in the stands, the band finally returned with four songs, one of them being the popular, Use Somebody.
Earlier in the night, local South African bands Shadow Club, The Black Hotels and Die Heuwels Fantasies entertained the crowd. — Sapa