Kasabian, Edinburgh review: 'a special sort of communion'
On this evidence, Kasabian frontman Serge Pizzorno appears to want to be a club idol as much as an indie-rock hero, writes David Pollock
Kasabian, Corn Exchange, Edinburgh ★★★★
“This is crazy, the vibe down here, it’s the best,” bounced Kasabian’s lead singer Serge Pizzorno with typically puppyish enthusiasm, indicating the heaving moshpit at the front of the hall. “This music was invented for this. The greatest!”
That last exclamation was aimed at the Scottish audience before him, which he eulogised at length throughout (“I think this is the best I've ever seen!” he gasped near the end), and while this band have always played up to the Everyday Messiah style perfected by Oasis and the Stone Roses, there was no doubt a special sort of communion was happening here.
Maybe it was the wall of boiling heat which hit hard on crossing the threshold, but the atmosphere in the room was positively feverish, especially for swaggering big signature indie rockers like Club Foot, an early pace setter. Yet from the moment former (and still occasional) guitarist Pizzorno replaced sacked singer Tom Meighan five years ago, Kasabian have evolved into something more.
This very demonstrative frontman appears to want to be a club idol as much as an indie-rock hero, and throughout the gig the music took unexpected turns, threaded together by live instrumental segues through Stardust’s Music Sounds Better with You, the Beastie Boys’ Intergalactic and Faithless’ Insomnia.
The band’s own music complemented this lengthy dancefloor diversion, the symphonic Days Are Forgotten merging into the hammering Shoot the Runner, then the bouncing synth groove of You're in Love with a Psycho and the sunshine club vibes of Coming Back to Me Good, the latter topped with a trumpet refrain of the Bucketheads’ The Bomb.
Through all this visceral 90s nostalgia the crowd chanted Pizzorno’s name like a sporting hero, and he returned the compliment with some perspiring adulation of his own. “Stay with us for the next three songs, I guarantee you'll lose your shit,” he begged, before the set-closing triptych of Vlad the Impaler, Empire and LSF (Lost Souls Forever) – and later the encore-closing Fire – did indeed send everyone even more wild.
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