BERKELEY — The last time the Kings of Leon were due to perform in the Bay Area, it was in 2021, as the U.S. was exiting lockdowns and trying to find that new sense of normal. The brothers and cousin Followill never found it, as their mother and matriarch, who had been ill, took a turn for the worse. The Nashville band scrapped the concert and rushed home. She died several days later. The tour was canceled.

In the time since, KoL left one label and found another, releasing their new album, Can We Please Have Fun, which they said was the most fun they’ve ever had working together. Besides being one of the group’s best since 2004’s Aha Shake Heartbreak, it was also a return to the band’s rough-around-the-edges Southern rock roots, sans the gloss of hits like “Sex On Fire.”

At their show at the Greek Theatre on Sunday, set amid UC Berkeley students’ return to campus, Kings of Leon seemed more at ease, full of gratitude for the opportunity to continue playing in front of so many fans (the show was sold out) and in fine form.

There was little fanfare to go around, just business, other than when frontman Caleb Followill began the set by walking onto the stage and inserting a cassette labeled “Can We Please Have Fun” into a tape deck and pressing play. That was really as impressive as the band’s production got, other than the standard video screen that showed Caleb (in a white suit jacket over a sleeveless undershirt, his short hair neatly combed), bassist Jared, guitarist Matthew and drummer Nathan, and touring members Liam O’Neil and Timothy Deaux.

Several of the songs got lyric prompts on the screen — a line or a quip from the song the band was barreling through. Others got the full karaoke treatment.

“We’re gonna put the lyrics up because no one can understand what I’m saying,” Caleb Followill announced as the band kicked into longtime fan favorite “Milk,” with its lackadaisical Boomhauer-esque delivery. It’s true. For nearly half a year in 2004, I thought opening words “salty leave” were “soul delete.” The song felt as quirky and as alive as it did 20 years earlier.

“M Television,” one of seven or so of the new tracks performed, included a video (modern!) of a person moving around the lyrics on an old-school (literally) classroom projector (retro!). That song and pretty much all the new material fit right in among KoL’s classics. Songs like simmering opener “Ballerina Radio,” rollicking “Mustang,” sludgy slow-burning “Seen” and nostalgic guitar ballad “Split Screen” were standouts as much as early career hits like “The Bucket” and anthemic “Sex on Fire.”

Of the new material, the only thing that didn’t go over well, surprisingly, was “Nowhere to Run,” an album highlight that was delivered like a time filler.

The second-most represented album was 2008’s Only By the Night, including “Sex On Fire,” crowd-pleasing show-closer “Use Somebody,” and the more nuanced of the bunch, the angsty “Manhattan” (which had Caleb Followill belting passionately) and ballad “Revelry,” for which he moved to a corner of the stage and was ensnared in the output of a fog machine. The only song from 2021 album When You See Yourself was rocker “The Bandit.”

Other highlights included the anthemic and longing “Waste a Moment,” mid-tempo “On Call,” which may qualify as classic rock at this point, and “Razz,” during which a camera man got onstage and got into the band members’ faces, which visually added to the song’s mayhem. Camera dude was joined by a couple of friends who continued the “razzing” for the following tune, dirty Southern rocker “My Party.”

The Followills didn’t say much between songs, which was fine since they covered so much ground (I counted at least 26 songs), but Caleb did have a few zingers up his sleeve, such as when he introduced the band’s “song for the city,” a fan vote, which for this show was “California Waiting” from the band’s 2003 debut album, Youth and Young Manhood.

“We haven’t played it on many tours. And just to make it more fun, we didn’t rehearse it,” he quipped, before introducing it as a song Kings of Leon wrote when they were scared of the way their career was taking off.

“Thank you Tom Petty for letting us rip you off,” he added afterward.

The latter half of the set included rootsy rock song “Back Down South,” thunderous “Molly’s Chambers” and the brooding “Pyro,” during which Followill let the crowd sing parts of the chorus without him.

The crowd sang the chorus over and over. “Can you feel it?” roared thousands of voices in unison.

Alt rock duo Phantogram opened the show, hitting the stage 15 minutes earlier than advertised, possibly due to concerns over the venue’s curfew. Josh Carter and Sarah Barthel, backed by a drummer and keyboardist, performed a solid 10-song set that blended rock with hazy electronica and neo-soul.

After kicking off with “Don’t Move” and the dreamy “Fall in Love,” the band got to the first of two newer releases, gauzy ethereal ballad “All a Mystery.”

The other new tune was “Happy Again,” which sounded a bit like DeVotchKa’s “How It Ends.”

Barthel called the Greek her favorite place to play in the entire U.S.

“You are so lucky to have this place,” she said.

Phantogram also played driving electro pop-leaning “Pedestal,” jagged “Run Run Blood” and post-punk-influenced “Mister Impossible” before finishing off with fan favorites “Black Out Days” and “When I’m Small.”

Follow editor Roman Gokhman at Twitter.com/RomiTheWriter. Follow photographer Steve Carlson at Instagram.com/SteveCarlsonSFand Twitter.com/SteveCarlsonSF.