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… Serge Pizzorno on guitar, Chris Edwards on bass and Ian Matthews on drums. The band have been on a year-long world tour which finally returns to British shores in August
away to a room where parity has to be restored through a titanic struggle of computerised football. Football. For musicians, tapping into terrace culture can help their music reach a wider audience and few current rock acts have so successfully blended fan bases as Kasabian. The handy celebrities in a five-a-side team, the dyed-in-the-wool Leicester City fans generate a euphoric atmosphere akin to match day at their shows with bouncing fans and stadium chanting. The links run deeper: Serge had schoolboy trials with Nottingham Forest. Kasabian and The Beautiful Game go hand in hand. “I’m Leicester City first, then England,” Tom says proudly. “We all are. Serge even wore Leicester socks under his Forest kit when he was a boy. We try and get to see the Foxes as often as we can when we’re home, which is a real pleasure and pain thing. But that’s what being a fan is about – being there for the club in the good and bad times, even though with Leicester there are more bad than good…” Kasabian’s credentials as Britain’s premier soccerrockers were further enhanced in February when the English Football Association chose the band to launch the England team’s World Cup shirt at a gig at the Paris Olympia. While Tom was honoured to do so, he had reservations about the location. “I told them that it was all on their heads,” he confides. “If it backfires, it’s all on you. If they riot, I want you to get us out. But it was OK. There were a few boos, but then we played another song and it was all sweet.” There are no boos a few hours later when the Leicester lunatics take over another in a long list of asylums. From the opening bars of the stomping ‘Fast Fuse’, it’s clear that this is not going to be a sedate evening of toe-tapping. The pit directly centre-stage is soon a writhing mass of bodies. In addition to crowd pleasers such as ‘Underdog’, ‘Fire’ and ‘Fast Fuse’ from their third album, Kasabian unleash a never-ending stream of rousing favourites from West Ryder’s two predecessors, their eponymously titled debut and follow-up Empire. The audience threatens spontaneous combustion when the band hit them with the triple whammy of ‘Processed Beats’, ‘Reason is Treason’ and ‘Julie and the Mothman’; the sweaty crowd ebbing and flowing against the crash barriers as Tom – in a stripy sweater and gargantuan fly shades – commands the waves like a deranged King Canute. Beside him, Serge – a study of skinny vintage rock clobber and headband – strangles riffs from his guitar and backing vocals from his shredded throat while the rhythm section of bassist Chris Edwards and drummer Ian Matthews anchor the glorious chaos with infectious beats. It’s a 90-minute dancerock onslaught which leaves the crowd exhausted. Backstage, Tom is more wired than ever. Everyone in his vicinity gets a hug and an offer of a beer, which he soon forgets in favour of a manic flick through the band’s CD collection followed by an extensive poll of ideas for the evening’s post-gig entertainment. “Are we heading out?” he asks. “Come on Serge, are you mad for it?” The party looks far from over. Kasabian live it like they love it. Kasabian headline at V Festival on August 21 and 22 at Hylands Park and Weston Park in the UK: www.vfestival.com
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