Live Review: Kasabian, The Delta Riggs

The overtly-confident rock’n’roll pomp of The Delta Riggs sometimes rubs up Aussie crowds the wrong way, but their cocksure attitude and undeniable talents combine for a perfect introduction tonight. Frontman Elliott Hammond loses his leathers after a few tracks and jumps on keys for a barnstorming rendition of America, but stylish hats remain firmly on heads, and new tunes like The Record’s Flawed are just as sexy. In their best moments they’re not that dissimilar to The Hives; in their worst moments they’re a little too close to Jet. A bottle of brown spirit being passed about is making everyone smile.

It’s pandemonium in the packed venue when Kasabian stride out to a hero’s reception. The calls of “I’m in ecstasy” in Bumblebeee seem to sum up the feelings of practically everyone in the room, and when the boys bleed the intro of Kanye’s Black Skinhead into Shoot The Runner – with Ian Matthews pounding incessantly on the drum kit – punters move in unison. This is a band that have headlined Glastonbury Festival and The O2 in London, so they know a few things about working a crowd, and shaggy-haired guitar ruler Sergio Pizzorno and vocalist Tom Meighan are strutting and pouting with the best of them. It’s all endearing though – even Meighan’s raver glasses/suit jacket combo doesn’t come across as contrived. In fact, it makes complete sense when he leads a dancefloor meltdown with UK rave redux Eez-eh, the lights on stage going into blinding overdrive as the bass smothers us.

That same bottom-end sound then kicks even harder during golden oldie Processed Beats; the song just another one that shows off the band’s humble weapon, bassist Chris Edwards. His head rocks in time with the Leicester City FC flag waving in the front corner of the room, before Serge takes centre stage for Bow, which is then followed by a ripping version of Club Foot with Meighan back in the fold. Immediately after, Kasabian offer up the two sides of their sound back to back – the straight-ahead rock of Re-Wired making way for the club throb of Treat, with Serge tossing his maracas into the pit towards the latter track’s end. They then proceed to put on a clinic coming home, breaking up Empire and L.S.F. with a cover of Fatboy Slim’s Praise You played in tribute to Robin Williams, before taking things next level with an encore of Switchblade Smiles, an absolutely frightening Vlad The Impaler and Fire. By this stage Meighan has slid into a Delta Riggs jacket, with the support band coming out to litter the stage with bodies during the finale, adding vocals, tipsy dancing and plenty of man-love as beers go skywards everywhere you look.