Live Review: Kasabian

Underdog ("Live my life on a lullaby") follows and now we're talkin'! Kasabian are matchless when it comes to initiating audience involvement, particularly Meighan: "In the back", "Over there", "Down the front". Kasabian obviously love performing in the round and there seems to be an extra dress circle behind the band than there was when we last attended an Opera House concert that utilised this configuration (The Stone Roses last December). Kasabian's Madness-esque Eez-eh is like a bleeping ADD robot falling off a cliff. During this song, Kasabian introduce a portion of Daft Punk's Around The World, mash-up style. Some of the geezer fans are like, 'Ey? Haven't heard this one before!' and Meighan pronounces "arouwnd" with elongated vowel sounds almost like an Aussie. Shoot The Runner is irresistibly insouciant. Every brass inclusion is a classy touch. Meighan's black-and-red marbled jacket (which he keeps on for the entire show's duration, but somehow never looks a sweaty mess) shimmers like seal fur and is on our sartorial wishlist. Reason Is Treason is an inspired inclusion. Meighan reaches out into the front rows: "It's quite intimate, you can touch me — look." 

 

Alesbrook performs solo on trumpet to open Days Are Forgotten. Carter demonstrates notable guitar chops. Meighan bumps knuckles with front-row enthusiasts who screech lyrics back at him. The frontman then temporarily leaves the stage to allow songwriter/guitarist Serge Pizzorno to take lead vocals on La Fee Verte (and also perhaps to towel-off?) and the guitarist's gentler tones makes a perfect foil for his bandmate's more rowdy timbre. Then Meighan's back for the irrepressible Club Foot, ("OOosh"/"Ah-AH-Ah-AH-Ah-AH!") which tears us a new one and coaxes a rambunctious shout-along. Re-Wired reminds us of something we've wondered ever since our ears first discovered this song: what the hell is a "lady caster"? 

 

Treat ("Everybody knows I work it") is killer live! At the tail-end of said song, Meighan exits the stage again (another towel-off?) and there's a Depeche Mode-esque synth break before Pizzorno grabs the double-maracas and sings this song out, working the Opera House's in-the-round set-up and reaching out to fans in the cheap seats. Empire finishes us off and of course there's a Leicester City FC flag in the house! That bass in Switchblade Smiles rumbles through our spleens and we all wish we'd double-dropped half an hour before this song kicks in. Meighan introduces another newie, Put Your Life On It, stressing it's "very emotional" and revealing their entire new album follows suit. The song is an acoustic guitar-led, mid-tempo number with extra vocal melodies supplied by Pizzorno. Main set closer LSF features maximum "la-la-la!" soccer hooligan-style intercommunication, which continues long after the lads have left the stage. Chanting is soon accompanied by insistent slow-clapping, which eventually draws Kasabian back out for an encore. 

 

Stevie enters. Then images of Kasabian bestie Noel Fielding brandishing papier-mâché dismembered heads on a sword swim through our minds as Vlad The Impaler barnstorms in and we pogo so much we see actual stars. The Leicester City FC flag somehow makes its way onto the stage, Meighan proudly wearing it as a scarf for a spell before kissing the item and tossing it back into the crowd. "It's been emotional, my friends," Meighan gushes of this evening's performance before Fire, complete with that impossibly extended "fiiiiiiiiiiiii-yer" chorus closes proceedings. Pizzorno's contribution to this song gets us all fired up: "MOVE on/You got to MOVE on/I'm gonna get you real good/So you can SHAKE on!" As we all sing out the riff, "Woah-oh-oh-OH-Oh-OH-oh-oh"-style, Meighan helicopters his mic overhead. 

 

The chanting continues long after the hordes file out through Sydney Opera House's doors toward the harbour and if only we could do it all again tomorrow night!