In the lead up to Kasabian’s tour, any music fan on social media would have been bombarded with highlights from their headline set at Glastonbury a few months ago. Huge LCD screens adorned the famous pyramid stage, they played to an endless sea of fans, and they seemed like the biggest band in the world. In comparison, their almost-capacity show at Melbourne’s Festival Hall seemed almost intimate in comparison, but it did nothing to dull expectations. This was particularly true for anyone who had been given the Kasabian treatment in the past, and experienced the radiant vigour that the Leicester rockers are so eager to share with their fans.

Opening honours for the entire Australian leg of the tour was given to The Delta Riggs, which is a choice that immediately makes sense. The Melbourne-born quartet recently returned from a string of successful shows in Europe (where they won over the legendary Jimmy Page’s attention in London), and they also put on an excellent live show and share a number of musical traits with Kasabian. However, the crowd seemed strangely uninterested. This was through no fault of the band, as they played with all the enthusiasm and professionalism that you would expect, but the slowly-growing audience were static and inattentive.  Even the catchy, Triple-J curated hit ‘Supersonic Casualties’ failed to spark genuine interest or familiarity, which is sad, because the band absolutely rocked it.

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As it turned out, perhaps The Delta Riggs’ fans were simply saving their energy for the headliners, because there was no shortage of mayhem once Kasabian hit the stage with latest single ‘bumblebeee’. As usual, the band is dressed to impress, and have an uncanny collective coolness in their presence. The up-tempo fist-raiser did well to set the pace for the rest of the night, as the band powered through a punchy, high-energy setlist devoid of ballads. This concept tied in well with new album 48:13’s focus on delivering high-energy, electro-charged rock. ‘bumblebeee’s’ moshpit antics were only augmented for ‘Shoot The Runner’ and Underdog’, with frontman Tom Meighan personalising the lyrics of the former with ‘I’m a king, and you’re my queen, bitch!’ Meighan’s vocal abilities then really shone through with the chill-inducing melodious hooks of ‘stevie’ and ‘Days Are Forgotten.’

It was then time for one of 2014’s most divisive tracks, ‘eez-eh’.  The short and sharp electro-pop banger had a lot of fans sitting on the fence when it dropped in May, and it’s certainly unlike anything else that Kasabian have ever released.  However, it’s evidently been somewhat of a grower on most people, as the fervent crowd reaction amounted to anything but rejection. Quite simply, ‘eez-eh’ is a lot of fun, and the punters took large stock in the band’s blatant amusement.  Homage was paid to old-school hip-hop with snippets of House of Pain’s ‘Jump Around’ and Grandmaster Flash’s ‘The Message’ making their way into a rendition of Kasabian’s now 10-year-old classic ‘Processed Beats’. A singular, eerie verse of ‘Doberman’ marked Meighan’s departure from the stage, with a killer rendition of ‘Take Aim’ putting the band in Sergio Pizzorno mode.

Meighan was then back with a vengeance, encouraging an all-in audience upsurge with the moshpit anthem ‘Club Foot’.  The crowd energy was absolutely relentless up until this point, and the big riff-bends of ‘Re-Wired’ did little to slow the performance down. However, the energy did eventually dip a little with 48:13’s ‘treat’. This recession was short lived though, as “treat’s” infectious, extended instrumental jam had some serious dance-moves on display in what proved to be perhaps the most memorable effort of the night.  Unfortunately, things got gratingly out of time with the first verse of ‘Empire’, which was the first and only mishap of the night. Luckily, it was all pulled back together in the chorus.

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A memorable cover of Fatboy Slim’s ‘Praise You’ paved the way for Kasabian’s long-time classic ‘Lost Souls Forever’ before the band made their token pre-encore departure. On their return, the performance was markedly escalated for an otherworldly trio of ballsy rockers. The big, fuzzy electro beats of ‘Switchblade Smiles’ had people in the stands jumping around on their seats in ecstasy, while the ‘get loose’ hook of ‘Vlad The Impaler’ rang home with the crowd as the venue shook with manic movement. This continued into megahit ‘Fire’ which saw out the performance with 5000 voices added to Meighan’s and Pizzorno’s in the titanic chorus.

Finally, the band made their departure while Meighan remained; signing off with an A Capella rendition of The Beatles’ ‘All You Need Is Love’, and fans happily lent their voices to imitate the waning horn decrescendos. There was no shortage of love for Kasabian at their Festival Hall performance, and while it may have lacked the frills, splendour, and scope of their Glastonbury showing, none of these things proved all that necessary in the end. The rabid rock energy that is so consistently poured into the crowd translates into Kasabian seeming like the biggest band in the world anyway.

Setlist:
(shiva)
bumblebeee
Shoot the Runner (Black Skinhead Intro)
Underdog
stevie
Days Are Forgotten
eez-eh
Processed Beats
The Doberman (First verse only)
Take Aim
Club Foot
Re‐Wired
treat
Empire
Praise You (Fatboy Slim cover)
L.S.F. (Lost Souls Forever)

Encore:
Switchblade Smiles
Vlad the Impaler
Fire
All You Need Is Love (The Beatles Cover) (A Capella)

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