The Forum is not a standard place to get to see Kasabian. Leicester’s finest are normally headlining the world’s biggest festivals and packing out stadiums, they’re not at 2,300 cap theaters like they are tonight.
But, whoever’s idea it was to make the band revisit the places that helped build their legacy, as they gear up for the release of their forthcoming album, For Crying Out Loud, it’s one that’s working. The mostly middle-aged crowd (it’s £50 a ticket) are feeding off the immense wall of sound, experiencing an adrenaline and catharsis as intensely as anyone on stage; there just aren’t many bands who can claim this amount of devotion from the audience.
This devotion is earned and deserved. The crowd cherish their huge live sound and it’s more refined and powerful than you could ever anticipate from their recordings – they’re a band ill-content with mediocrity and over the they have that self-competitiveness that drives them to reach new heights, live, with every passing album.
Bringing along a stage show that's fit for any major headline festival slot is a quite surprising tihng. In addition to the guitarists, percussionists, trumpeter, and synth player; there’s a string quartet adding warmth and texture to their unforgettable hooks (‘Empire’) and majesty to the slower numbers (‘La Fee Verte’). It all comes together incredibly well.
As ever, Kasabian do a good job of taking on anthemic guitar rock as they do analog electronic wig-outs – the transition from new single ‘God Bless This Acid House’ to the 2014 hit ‘Treat’ is the most glorious, bold example of this.
For the latter cut Serge Pizzorno gets on the analog synth and parties with a maraca, channeling his inner Bez. Singer Tom Meighan also has a great way about him on stage. He has just the right amount of bravado to instill confidence in the crowd that encourages silly, fun behaviour and crushes stereotypes that London crowds are difficult.
Particularly impressive the singer's ability to project his flawless vocals to never get lost in the mix, no matter how loud the instrumentation is. And, if he ever feels in one of the verse that he can be anything less than his best, Meighan just points the mic to the crowd and they can fill in all the gaps as the crowd have learned the material inside out and act as part of the band.
However, this isn’t so true for newer unreleased stuff like the swaggering glam rock leaning ‘Ill Ray (The King)’; they command that more independently and makes for an impressive encore.
Ultimately, if you’ve for the chance of seeing Kasabian this summer don’t pass it up; they are better than ever before.
Kasabian played:
Comeback Kid
Bumblebeee
Underdog
Eez-Eh
Shoot the Runner
You're in Love With a Psycho
Club Foot
La Fée Verte
Re‐Wired
Bless This Acid House
Treat
Empire
Stevie
L.S.F. (Lost Souls Forever)
Encore:
III Ray (The King)
Vlad the Impaler
Fire
