Photographer Patrick Ainsworth shot the band at their recent show at the Smoothie King Center.

Tour reports from the Kings of Leon's "Mechanical Bull" told similar stories. Singer Caleb Followill has apparently dealt with the issues that caused the band to pull the plug on a tour in 2011, and the band sounds good and powerful. Still, reviews found the band distant onstage - my experience with them when they played Jazz Fest in 2009 - and it was Nola.com's Keith Spera's Friday night: 

[Caleb] and his bandmates – brothers Jared and Nathan Followill on bass and drums, respectively, cousin Matthew on guitar, and an unnamed auxiliary guitarist/keyboardist -- revealed very little of themselves beyond an ability to faithfully replicate the tautly arranged anthems that fill their albums. They went about the task in a business-like manner, banging out 26 chiseled, meat-and-potatoes rockers and quasi-ballads in a show that clocked in a few minutes shy of two hours.

Photographer Patrick Ainsworth was there; here are some of his highlights.