Originally published by L.S.Media. March 3rd 2009.
With a style that seems very heavily influenced by the old punk rock guard of The Boomtown Rats, The Jam and The Stranglers, the Kaiser Chiefs are fast becoming this generations must see and like the Rats and the Stranglers, The Kaiser Chiefs seem to have cottoned on to their audience’s and fans desire for clever social songs wrapped up in good guitar work and with a beat to die for.
The Kaiser Chiefs opened the set with Spanish Metal from the latest album Off With Their Heads and quickly followed it up with the anti love song Everyday I love You Less and Less and Everything is Average Nowadays. These last two songs in particular seem to sum up how the band have become a tight unit and how they come across to the crowd.
The band have an almost embarrassing amount of songs to choose from baring in mind that they only released their first album Employment in 2005. Some of the songs from that album were given an outing on the night and apart from the aforementioned anti love song, they played Modern Way, Na Na Na Na Naa and the now classic I predict a riot!.
Ricky Wilson has matured as a front man, he still has those manic moments when you are not sure what lighting or sound rig he will climb up next but his near seemingly polished performance is a joy to watch.
The other members of the band surely deserve to be mentioned as this was most definitely a group performance. With Peanut on keyboards, Andrew White on guitar, The Irreplaceable Nick Hodgson on drums and Simon Rix on bass, the band put in work man like effort to entertain the crowd and it showed with the reception they received at the start of their number one single Ruby.
Other tracks from the bands three studio albums played on the night were Heat Dies Down, You Want History, Like it Too Much and The infectious Never Miss a Beat. All of these songs were accompanied by one of the best light shows I have seen for a while and seemed to fit the mood just right.
The Kaiser Chiefs closed the main set with the riotous Take My Temperature and The Angry Mob, almost immediatly returning to the stage and finishing an exciting and electric night with the encores which included Tomato in the Rain and Can’t Say What I Mean.
Ian D. Hall