Sunday 2nd September 2012 by David Renshaw | Photos by wenn

Tags: Kasabian

Kasabian guitarist Serge Pizzorno has admitted that it was a 'risky manoeuvre' to refuse playing Reading and Leeds until they were asked to headline the festivals.

The risk paid off, however, with the 'Fire' band pulling off one of the festival highlights when headlining the event last weekend (Aug 24-26). It was the first time Serge and his band had played the festival since 2004.

"The second time we played we headlined the second stage, and after that it was so good we said we'd never play it again unless we headlined the main stage," Serge told NME. "Which was, I suppose, a risky manoeuvre, but it paid off."

Speaking about his festival experience, Serge added: "It's hard to put into words… I thought there were seven levels and there's actually eight. We got to the eighth level last night. It was absolutely unbelievable. The crowd… We flew out of this universe."

Serge recently revealed that he is hoping to collaborate with Jack White on the band's next album.

Kasabian headline Reading festival in style