Sergio Pizzorno, the band’s songwriter and guitarist, appears on the stage with his long blackhair squarely shaping his face and a motorhead moustache. He looks like Jesus would if he ever rode a Harley. But as he stands there all adorned in leather, overwhelming the screaming fans with his mere presence, it’s known to all that this is still the teaser. The suspense is so palpable, you’d need a chainsaw to plough through it. That chainsaw finally comes – in the form of Tom Meighan.
The frontman swaggers onto the stage like a badassteenager, strutting late into class. Currently holding the premier title of British Bravado (which used to belong to Oasis’s Liam Gallagher) everything about Meighan screams of typical rocker to the point of cliché.
He walks to the front chewing gum, stops, throws his head back, puckers his lips and raises both his hands assuming the favoured Christ-like pose. And then the guitar cuts in with the first chords of Club Foot and the crowd roars. Using Club Foot as the intro is significant because it’s the kind of powerful anthem the Leicester lads used to keep reserved for the end of their set. After the success of their third and fourths albums, though, they can afford to throw it in early knowing there are better and bigger sounds in their reservoir.
Another stadium anthem from West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum –Where Did All the Love go-follows. The third track, Days are Forgotten, from the new album Velociraptor!, is of the same colossal nature. This opening trifecta highlights the band’s big-time status. Their sound?Multi-layered, genre fusing, stadium rock.
The magnitude is enhanced further by Meighan’s overblown, and at times cringe-worthy theatrics. But unlike the aforementioned Gallagher, Meighan isn’t so lofty that he forgets about his fans. He attempts an Aussie accent when he sings, Shoot The Runner, and keeps victoriously announcing – “Melbourne!” – in between songs as if this concert is a momentous occasion in 21st century history.
It’s usually rare for new songs to get as large a response as the well-loved oldies, but the six tracks Kasabian played off Velociraptor!, which was released only last month, were sung along to as if they were already classics.Switchblade Smiles followed the encore and the groovy Fire proved to be a great ending – if only because the lasting sounds of “whoo-oo-oo ooh oohwooh-ooo-oo-ooh,” could be heard from various parts of the crowd well after it piled out of shed 14 and dispersed throughout Melbourne.
LOVED: The deafening, overwhelming sound that made it seem like I was at Glastonbury.
HATED: The guy who screamed out of tune into my ear.
DRANK: Not too much in case I needed to pee and miss out on something amazing.
