It’s fair to say that ever since Oasis went their separate ways (well, at least until 2015 anyway...), lovers of lad-rock and all things lairy have looked to Leicester’s Kasabian to up their game and keep the seat warm in the meantime. Tonight sees the boys attempt to climb yet another rung up the indie ladder with their biggest Belfast show to date, and as soon as they blaze through an incendiary version of ‘Shoot The Runner’, it’s clear that they mean business.
Touring in support of fourth album Velociraptor! the five-piece seem to be settling into their new found role as bona fide arena rockers, and this evening’s show is a big budget performance backed by even bigger tunes. ‘Underdog’ and ‘Where Did All The Love Go?’ in particular sound absolutely massive in the Odyssey, and singer Tom Meighan (who currently looks like a cross between Bono circa ’91 and Danny Zuko from Grease) is the consummate frontman, effortlessly belting out the tunes while acting like the best mate we never had.
Guitarist and main songwriter Serge Pizzorno on the other hand is a different kind of cool altogether and struts around the stage for most of the night sporting a feathery black cloak (which makes him look like a mutant man-crow) whilst crooning along to the likes of the Kinks-y ‘Thick As Thieves’, and generally never missing a beat. It’s an unbeatable combination and when they run through a rendition of the suitably rowdy ‘Club Foot’ the venue erupts. Sounding as lean and mean as a supermodel that’s just been told she’s too old for a photo-shoot, the tune goes down a treat and is every bit as exciting as it was when we first heard it almost a decade ago.
But it’s not all about the oldies. Current single ‘Re-Wired’ is another stadium-sized indie anthem and, unlike some of their contemporaries, the band are definitely getting better with age and don’t need to rely on past glories to impress. Signing off with ‘Vlad The Impaler’ and ‘Fire’ (which turns the Odyssey into a football terrace) they leave us in no doubt that they deserve to be indie rock’s biggest band. Move over, Liam...