KaiserChiefs
Itook a much needed night off this week to go and see one of my favourite bandslive in Manchester. Amazingly, considering they are in my top ten favouritebands of all time, this is only the second time I’ve seen them live, after abrilliant performance in Kirkstall Abbey a couple of years ago (where I sawthem the night that didn’t include ‘Spector’ sadly, a wrong I’ve sincerighted).
Gettingto the gig was simpler than I’d imagined and, having waited in a considerablequeue to get in, entry was surprisingly swift and the venue pretty large andwell-kept, and I was able to get a pretty good view from behind the FOH to seethe band and the two supports. A can, yes can, of Gaymers, which broke myextended sober-January resolution, cost a wallet-bashing £3.90 but I only hadone so no major issues there.
Openingsupport ‘Heavy Ball’ were a very strong opener and the better of the two. Theska-rock band delivered a selection of great, instantly catchy tunes, alongsidea brilliant cover of the classic ‘Smalltown Boy’ and their own similarly-titledbut different sounding ‘Smalltown Hero’. Their ska sound was very much welcomedby my ears and though the sound mix meant their between-song banter wasn’tunderstandable, their music made for it with their vocal harmonies and greatcrowd-engaging closer ‘Wanted’ ticking all the boxes. I enjoyed it so much I’vedownload their EP, available from iTunes, Amazon and other purveyors of digitalmusic.
Secondsupport was ‘Night Engine’, a mis-matchingly dressed band with a distinctlyeighties sound. Their opening number ‘Lick Me Up’ was an incredibly catchyopener immediately warming the crowd to them, it’s just a shame the songs thatfollowed it, though fun, merged into one another and lacked the spark displayedin the first. The last couple of songs, though, went someway to re-capture thatmagic with the repeating ‘baby’ hook of the latter (“Treat Me Like A Baby”)grabbing the crowd. A great start and end to a set but not as fun to hear asthe first. Downloaded ‘Treat Me Like A Baby’ though, available on Amazon.
Notlong after they left the stage the Kaiser Chiefs came on, flickering lightsufo-like above them signalling their arrival in front of the audience, verymuch setting a great mood. With that the curtain literally fell and the bandwere on, bursting into a spirited rendition of ‘Thank You Very Much’. The soundquality of the band was spot-on after being OK for the supports but it was thelighting showcased throughout the gig that really sold the venue for me,capturing the spirit of the gig perfectly, alongside the energy of Ricky Wilsonas a great frontman, often jumping up to a special block within the audience toreally connect with the fans.
Theopening numbers – though containing none of their “big hits” – proved they didn’tneed them as the energy was vibrant and the songs delivered perfectly, with newdrummer Vijay Mistry slotting in perfectly to the band, even if his appearancein the band was never really introduced to the audience. ‘Kinda Girl You Are’and ‘Everything Is Average Nowadays’ set the mood and ‘Little Shocks’, a singlethat was received with mixed reviews, gained a new life live. ‘Like It Too Much’joined ‘Good Days Bad Days’ as an ‘Off With The Heads’ double-act, in a setthat covered the albums well even if the most recent album was sadlyunrepresented, with only three of the twenty-three tunes present; even thoughthe big ones were included something extra like ‘Problem Solved’ would havebeen welcome, but I have very little complaints about the songs served up bythe band as it was pretty much the perfect set-list.
Theirbreakthrough hit ‘Everyday I Love You Less and Less’ brought the crowd intosong, in possibly one of the most singable gigs I’ve been to. ‘Born To Be ADancer’ was resurrected from their debut album – complete with a few moreexplicit lyrics than we’re used to – and was brilliant to hear live before ‘ModernWay’ continued the set.
Newtrack ‘Living Underground’ followed and even on first listen felt to be astrong contender for a sequel, and if it wasn’t penned by the original line-upof the team I don’t think there are any immediate worries about life for theband after the departure of chief songwriter (and drummer) Nick Hodgson.Immediately catchy, I see it being a live-favourite for the next tour.
Mypersonal favourite ever Kaiser Chiefs track – ‘Heat Dies Down’ was played nextand was very well received, as was a rockier, more electronic, faster versionof ‘Love’s Not A Competition (But I’m Winning)’.
Asthe set neared its conclusion the big hitters started to come out, all wellperformed live, from ‘Never Miss A Beat’ to ‘Ruby’, before which a secondcurtain fell to reveal the huge ‘Souvenir’-rock backdrop, then ‘I Predict ARiot’ and finally ‘The Angry Mob’, which boasted an extended second half whichwas the chance for band, sound, lighting and crowd all to come together andexperience a brilliant rendition, with the breakdown middle really adding tothe impact.
Asis customary on these occasions the band left the stage before returning a fewminutes later to give us a three-song encore, including new song ‘SayingGoodbye’, a ballad sung by electric candle-light-out and, though on firstlisten, sounded great and sounds like a cracking album closer. They followedthis with a spirit and thoroughly enjoyable cover of the Stranglers’ classic ‘NoMore Heroes’ and then the last of their big hits ‘Oh My God’ before the crowds dissipatedand I went to retrieve my bag from the cloakroom in the most ill-plannedlocation with the queue obstructing an exit.
Overall,it was another fantastic set from the Kaiser Chiefs, which was both litfantastically and sounded great and was practically the perfect playlist. Thenew songs slotted in fine and sound promising and Wilson’s acrobatics andtiming with a tambourine throughout the performance was something to behold.The only bugbear I had – which was mirrored by a few people I heard as exited –was that an hour for the main set and twelve or so minutes for the encore, theset was quite short. That said, what we did get was brilliant, with someenjoyable support acts too, and I look forward to seeing them in Septemberagain at the new Leeds Arena.
Setlist
ThankYou Very Much
-Encore –
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