First Night: Kings Of Leon, Leas Cliff Hall, Folkestone

From the Walker Brothers to the Ramones via Jimi Hendrix, American musicians have been coming to the UK to get noticed for the past 40 years. Kings Of Leon followed in the footsteps of White Stripes and the Strokes and became one of the buzz bands of 2003, making the Top 3 and selling half a million copies of Youth & Young Manhood, their first album, which was showered with accolades.

Literally sons of a preacher man, Caleb, Jared and Nathan Followill, and their first cousin, Matthew, who shares their surname, had an amazing back story of following their father around the Deep South, and their primal, visceral sound caught the mood of the rock and indie fans and festival crowds. Aha Shake Heartbreak, their 2005 follow-up album, wasn't quite as successful but Kings Of Leon kept their trajectory firmly on the ascendant, selling out venues the size of Hammersmith Apollo and Brixton Academy, and supporting the likes of Bob Dylan, Pearl Jam and U2 in arenas and stadiums.

So what are they doing on a rainy Thursday night in Folkestone, at Leas Cliff Hall, a venue usually associated with tribute acts like the Bootleg Beatles and Think Floyd and package tours like the Solid Silver 60s show?They want to premier their new material in front of British fans with a few low-key dates - including the Astoria in London on Monday - before returning in April for a longer tour around the release of Because of the Times, their third album which marks something of a departure from the previous two since it features more of a collective approach to the songwriting.

They opened boldly with "Black Thumbnail", Caleb's feral voice rising over Jared's driving bass and Nathan's thunderous drums. As they ease seamlessly into "Taper Jean Girl", the boisterous fans are already chucking half empty glasses and ignoring the "no crowd surfing" notices. "My Party", a scuzzy new track, goes down well too, but the quartet soon opts to play safe with "Molly's Chambers", the song which first put them on the map and "The Bucket" and its "18, balding, star, golden, fallen, heart" mantra taken up by the fans.

The hypnotic "McFearless", led by Jared's fuzzy bass, and "On Call", during which Caleb promises to "be there" over his and Matthew's ringing guitars, hint at the strength of the new album and its gallery of losers, outcasts and outsiders. There is no denying the crowd laps up "California Waiting", "Spiral Staircase" and the closing "Trani", which sees the quartet morph into Led Zeppelin at their most compulsive. Caleb throws down the mic stand and walks off but comes back to debut "The Runner", which harks back to the group's peripatetic childhood.

Kings Of Leon are still on a pilgrimage.