WORDS AND IMAGES BY DESH KAPUR
Friday night it was down to Manchester’s AO Arena for one of the best bands of the last 20 years, the brilliant Kasabian and the Arena was packed to the rafters.
If you are unfamiliar with Kasabian here is a brief history. Formed in Leicester in 1997. In 2010 and 2014, Kasabian won the Q Awards for “Best Act in the World Today”, while they were also named “Best Live Act” at the 2014 Q Awards and the 2007 and 2018 NME Awards.
Kasabian have released seven studio albums – Kasabian (2004), Empire (2006), West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum (2009), Velociraptor! (2011), 48:13 (2014), For Crying Out Loud (2017) and The Alchemist’s Euphoria (2022). The band’s music has been described as a mix between The Stone Roses and Primal Scream with the swagger of Oasis.Their music has won them several awards and recognition in the media, including a Brit Award in 2010 for Best British Group,
As the stage turned dark, just strobe lights flashing as the band took to the stage, the noise from the 21,000 people was deafening, the band took their places and Serge walked to the front wearing a puffa parka version of Joseph’s technicolour dream coat and the band kicked in.
Serge was like a man possessed, Kasabian are his now and it shows, he prowled and bounced across the stage like a man who had done nothing but drink Red Bull all day and Kasabian has never sounded better.
The set list was a perfect blend of old and new, every song a banger and to be honest I’m not sure the band needed a frontman at all, even though the big hands were worth the admission alone, the crowd seemed to sing every word to pretty much every song; sometimes it was even hard to hear Serge’s vocals at all. What a beautiful thing to behold!
As the band rolled out all the hits the packed-out crowd wanted to hear, “Underdog”, “You’re in Love with A Psycho”, “Empire”, “LSF”, “Vlad the Impaler”, there was nothing about Kasabian’s performance that wasn’t confident to the core.
Kasabian was awesome tonight, tight and on the money at all times, and a special mention for Robert Harvey the ex-frontman of the brilliant band The Music, his addition to Kasabian is nothing but a masterstroke what he brings to the band, backing vocals, guitar, keys cannot be taken for granted or underestimated.
SET LIST
1/ Rocket Fuel
2/ Club Foot
3/ III Ray (the King)
4/ Underdog
5/ Chemicals
6/ Eeez-Eh
7/ Your in Love With A Psycho
8/ Shoot The Runner
9/ Scriptvre
10/ Stevie
11/ Processed Beats
12/ T.U.U (The Ultraview Effect)
13/ Treat 14/ Empire
15/ Vlad The Impaler
16/ Ovary Stripe
ENCORE
17/ Bless This Acid House
18/ L.S.F (Lost souls Forever)
19/ Fire
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My life is a soundtrack, i track my life through music, photography is my passion, my escape, my expression. Without both i have pieces missing, thankfully i’m blessed and get to combine both.
Born in Manchester, lived in Australia for 22 years where i was heavily involved in the Australian Music Industry, firstly in bands (Singer) and then managing bands (all original), I moved back to the UK, Wales specifically 10 years ago and married my childhood sweetheart and life is good.
