Growing up on the rugged plains of Northern Alberta would have been an almost impossible task if it hadn’t been for my mother, who imparted much wisdom on me. Among the many life lessons I learned on the caribou farm was this precious tidbit that Mamma delivered to me at a tender age of ten “Warrior-of-Earth-and-Sky (my Indian name), this lesson has been passed by the wise for generations and generations, and it is a lesson you must learn in order to fulfill your destiny. The lesson is this: whenever a festival sized band from England plays a much smaller venue here in North America, you must attend the show”. I took this lesson to heart, so when English band Kasabian announced they were playing the tiny Phoenix, I instantly purchased tickets. I wasn’t alone. Many others descended upon ticketmaster outlets like Mexicans descended on the Alamo. They were no match. The show was sold out and Kasabian was moved into the much larger Kool Haus.
To no one’s surprise (except for Paul, maybe), Kasabian put on an amazing show last night. Kasabian’s music is all about swagger. They were probably dicks in high school that you think would accumulate to nothing, but somehow ended up being rock stars. Their music, a combination of electro and rock is frenetic, aggressive, energetic and on top of all that, extremely catchy. The gig was ace from top to bottom with lead singer Tom Meighan doing his best to rile the crowd up. During the course of the show, you would have seen him get the crowd to throw up their middle fingers (yea I know), toss a tambourine into the crowd, toss maracas into the crowd and demand applause. His swagger is so absurdly over the top and so completely British. If Kevin Drew had done what he did last night, people would be writing about how much of a douche he was, but within the Brit rock spectrum, it was perfectly acceptable and completely loved by all at the show.
All the attitude Kasabian displayed (half of them adorned rock star hair cuts and wore sunglasses for a majority of the gig) would all for naught if it wasn’t for the fact that the band sounded and looked fantastic live. Kool Haus usually doesn’t have good mixing but the mix was incredible for this show, everything was balanced and both Tom and Serge (the other vocalist)’s vocals sounded superb. Complimenting the sound was a laser and lights show that accompanies any Kasabian act. I still remember their first show here at Lee’s Palace when they brought an all out light ensemble to that venue. Who brings an entire light show to Lee’s Palace? Kasabian does.
Playing a mixture of music from all four of their albums, the veteran rockers started the crowd off with a sampling of material from their new album, Velociprator!. The incredibly drunk crowd was already rocking by the time classic track Club Foot was played, which then signaled the “mostly hits” part of the show. The next bit was fast and furious – Empire, Fast Fuse and hit single Rewired were all played before set closer LSF was played. All were crowd pleasers, all incited some sort of drunken singalongs. Anthems, my friends. Kasabian knows anthems. An encore of Switchblade Smiles, Vlad the Impaler and Fire closed off the set.
Halfway through the track Fire, Tom told the crowd “I’m not f__in done with you yet” before engaging in another singalong. Judging by the excitement of the almost moshing crowd, we really wish he wasn’t. Soon after, Kasabian was gone. Hopefully it won’t take another seven or eight years before they return.