Doing That Oasis Thing

Caught Live Kasabian

Siobhan Grogan At Hammersmith Palais, London

Noel Gallagher has said that if Kasabian do their job properly, no one will need Oasis in a few years.

Though that might be overstating the case a little, there's no doubt few bands have ever been quite as keen as Kasabian to follow in the Mancunians' footsteps. They are just as quotable as the Gallaghers (famously slagging off everyone from The Strokes to Justin Timberlake), write the sort of anthems that can be sung on football terraces, and have had two Top Five albums.

On stage at this Shockwaves NME Awards Show, Kasabian were so fearsomely enthusiastic they made Oasis look like they should be settling down with their pipe and slippers.

Last time most fans saw the Leicester quartet they were headlining mammoth

Earl's Court down the road, so it was no surprise there seemed a genuine excitement about catching them in these far more intimate surroundings.

In typical Kasabian style, the band still threw themselves into the show like they had to fill a stadium. To excited cheers, singer Tom Meighan strutted on stage like the rock god he has always been in his head, eyeing up the audience as if issuing them with a challenge before throwing up his arms to signal proceedings had officially started.

Sounding like everything was turned up full - and then a bit more - Kasabian steamed through a set that seemed designed purposely to make eardrums bleed and even the most hesitant observer dance. Live, their grimy house beats and stomping, shoutalong choruses certainly sounded fiercer than on record too, equally brutal, brilliant and euphoric.

Noel will be glad to hear he's already a step closer to his retirement

Source: www.sundaymirror.co.uk