Kasabian + Reverend and The Makers – Newcastle Metro Radio Arena, (10/11/09)
I arrived after the Reverend And The Makers had finished as… well he was an exceptionally poor choice of support act. I first noticed that Kasabian’s stage was a big spectacle for them, they had the theme of the Lunatic Asylum so had sound members dressed in lab coats with ‘sane’ on the back, during the build up before Kasabian and they had screens with passages from Jack Kerouac and also extracts from a mental institution patients book.
(photo: mandynau)
It then went dark, and chimes rang for a few minutes, a priest came on and ‘blessed the stage’ with some incense, and they opened the set with new song ‘Julie And The Mothman’ which is a b-side off the ‘Underdog’ single, then around the stage was a picture frame screen that went all around the sides. Clearly a lot of effort had gone into the entire concert.
Then during LSF, a load of glitter (Partridge style) came out from the middle of the arena and shimmered in the air, which looked pretty impressive, this is obviously the first tour they’ve had where they’ve tried to make a ‘condensed Pink Floyd concert’ as Alan Partridge would say.
The crowd I thought were slightly disappointing for the first half of the gig although they did pick up for the latter half, there was a lot of people who just seemed to stand still throughout, no movement or singing, clapping, just absolutely nothing. Whilst people are different at gigs, it seemed a lot of people maybe weren’t too familiar with a lot of the songs, I was near the front as always so just expected the crowd to be more full of life. But that didn’t stop Kasabian putting in an absolutely belting performance, they are indeed one of the best live bands on the planet today. With the music scene now having an Oasis shaped hole in it, these boys could easily be the band to take their mantle and take on the world.
Set List:
Julie & The Mothman
Underdog
Where Did All The Love Go?
Swarfiga
Shoot The Runner
Cutt Off
West Ryder Silver Bullet
Thick As Thieves
Empire
Take Aim
Processed Beats
Ladies And Gentlemen (Roll The Dice)
I.D.
Fire
Fast Fuse
The Doberman
Club Foot
———
Vlad The Impaler
Stuntman
L.S.F. (Lost Souls Forever)
(Sent in by reader Thomas Holynski)