There’s a fine line between a good gig and a true performance, and it’s a craft the Kaiser Chiefs have mastered over the years. Tonight’s visit to a surprisingly modest turnout at The Palace showed the band ticking all the boxes – delivering enough false endings, climbing crescendos and sing-along choruses to satisfy a spoilt six-year-old’s attention span.
Here for Groovin’ The Moo, the show also bounced off the release of Souvenir: The Singles 2004-2012. Fittingly, the Chiefs did what was expected and secretly hoped for, treating The Palace’s pleased punters to a healthy spread of tunes that spanned all four of their anthem-laden albums.
Lead singer Ricky Wilson assumed his trusty position perched atop a stage monitor as he addressed his congregation, blasting straight into an energetic Na Na Na Na Naa and taking us on a tour through their extensive hit factory, with Every Day I Love You Less and Less, I Predict a Riot, Ruby and Everything is Average Nowadays all on top form. It was a true exhibition of showmanship orchestrated by the front man, who leapt around the stage and completely carried the show with his microphone flicks, tambourine tricks and witty banter in-between songs.
Unsurprisingly, it was a set list that needed an athletic stamina, and the Leeds lads took it in their stride. However, at one point, Ricky disappeared off stage to let the band jam as he recovered his breath, after which, a fatigued version of Never Miss a Beat ensued. This was a concerning moment, but just as you thought he’d run out of steam and it was going to be last orders for us all, Ricky raced through the crowd, clambered onto the bar, demanded a shot of Jack Daniels and soared into a version of the punky Take My Temperature from his new lookout across the stalls. What were we worried about really?
The boys’ latest effort, Listen to Your Head, is definitely a grower, and tonight proved that as with many of the band’s tunes, the live setting is the best medium for it. Throw in an encore of Love’s Not a Competition but I’m Winning and a trip back to where it all began, with debut single Oh My God capping off proceedings, and you’ve got yourself a fine illustration of a band that don’t look like slowing down any time soon.
BY CALLUM FITZPATRICK
Photo credit: Charles Newbury
LOVED: The Angry Mob – there’s something dangerously empowering about being part of that chant.
HATED: No pints? Pots only? In this so-called civilised society we live in today? Are you fucking kidding me?
DRANK: Cans of Boags Draught – purely out of principle.
