Kasabian have been here before. They’re no longer the underdogs but that doesn’t mean they’ve lost their bite. All that swagger that drew the spotlight to them all those years ago as the natural successors to Oasis, The Stone Roses and confident, bolshie, honest rock music is dripping from the stage tonight as they strut onto it.
Arms aloft, this still isn’t a victory lap. If tonight is going to be a triumph the band are going to work at it.
And work it they do. From the crunch of ‘Ill Ray (The King)’, through ‘Bumblebee’ and the fuzzy point of ‘Eez-eh’ to the sideways glance cover of Daft Punk’s ‘Around The World’, Kasabian champion unity. Everything is done together. The main stage moves as one to the beat of their drum.
It doesn’t take long for the group to enter proper Greatest Hits territory, and the crowd tightens in anticipation and excitement. ‘Empire’, ‘Club Foot’ and ‘L.S.F’ now cross generations, genre and there’s a timelessness to the way they engulf the field. A cover of Nirvana’s ‘No Apologies’ is a nod to the past, a huge beaming grin to their own legacy. Kasabian are now comfortably playing with the big boys, and they’re holding their own. No longer a joke, an annoyance or something to be sneered at, the closing flare of ‘Fire’ captivates their universal appeal, while moments earlier Noel Fielding’s prance about the stage for ‘Vlad The Impaler’ lights up their ridiculous, overblown sense of humour. We wouldn’t have them any other way.