When the band come onstage to total uproar, they do so atop a life-size reconstruction of the album cover itself, a cosy plinth from which they open with 'People Know How To Love One Another' and 'Golden Oldies', two energetic new numbers which give the band space to settle onstage whilst still providing a grand opening to the show.

 

Wilson is the consummate Rock Group Frontman, bursting with energy and showing his experience in keeping the Brighton crowd in a state of frenzy for nearly the entirety of the 90-minute performance. After skipping through a couple of more familiar, newer songs, the singer climbs a table behind the standing section and gazes lovingly into a Go-Pro attached to the mic (strange, but it worked) to perform 'Target Market'. Then, once the aforementioned ducks had been hooked, the joke well and truly spelled out and even the least sober person in the crowd aware of the new record's name, the band embark on a breathless tour of their earlier material.

 

There's a sly wink all along at the band’s place on the rock/pop divide, as Ricky knowingly carries out his duties with the crowd, protesting "there are rules we haven’t followed: this is a serious rock gig" before launching straight into the deliciously anarchic 'Everyday I Love You Less and Less' and 'Ruby' back-to-back. A number of these older, more popular songs have felt near-inescapable in British pop culture over the last decade or so, which makes the latter half of the performance nothing short of a blockbuster, touching 'Modern Way', 'Never Miss a Beat' and 'I Predict a Riot' in quick succession.

 

And even though Wilson suggested in a 2014 interview that the band’s attitude no longer felt suffused with the kind of anger which gave these early romps their character, such was the effect of the sensory onslaught that by the time those rangy guitars announced the latter the crowd were, predictably, rioting. Pints flew, friends fell off eachothers’ shoulders and phone screens needlessly came to miserable ends.

 

As a venue, the Brighton Centre is perfect for the performance, providing strong acoustics whilst still retaining a feeling of intimacy. The production quality can’t go unmentioned either: from the video effects on-screen to the confetti cannons that wouldn't stop until the Brighton Centre resembled the inside of a shredder, there was something going on almost everywhere you looked. With a lighting setup which was able to lend even further gravity to the more menacing numbers whilst equally giving 'Hole in My Soul' and 'Northern Holiday' a smile-inducing joyful feel, the whole show felt thoroughly professional. Replete with smoking chimneys and a production budget which must comfortably rank in the top 100 GDPs worldwide, the band gathered this audience in early for the powerhouse set that was to follow. 

 

Taking the light entertainment, some well-crafted new material, those hits without which no noughties Brit Rock playlist would be complete and a careful watch on those in the crowd getting to the choruses of 'Ruby' and 'Oh My God' before their time, this gig was able to entertain fans old and new. 

 

The gig was a loud, polychromatic affair which gave this Brighton Centre crowd well beyond their money’s worth with a 20-song setlist. The swagger never once spilled over into cockiness, the mischief never strayed into carnage. Kaiser Chiefs aren’t quite that same angry group who sung of old Leodensians and being far from home, but that never really seemed to matter. Fans old enough to remember the launch of Employment were younger in those days too, and almost exactly fifteen years on from that debut album’s release, this performance proved that not everything is average nowadays. 

 

People Know How To Love One Another

Golden Oldies 

Na Na Na Na Naa

Everything Is Average Nowadays

The Factory Gates

Parachute

Target Market

Hook a Duck (Good Days / Bad Days)

Coming Home

Northern Holiday

Every Day I Love You Less And Less

Ruby

Modern Way

Don’t Just Stand There Do Something

Never Miss A Beat

I Predict A Riot 

The Angry Mob

Record Collection

Hole In My Soul

Oh My God