Kasabian @ the HordernPavillion, Sydney (24/01/12)

Wed 25th Jan, 2012 in Gig Reviews

Part of the appeal of Kasabian is their ability to work with crowds. Much like fellow countrymen the Kaiser Chiefs, they have a particular skill in being able to create the exact type of tune that incites synchronised loutish behaviour en masse. It’s not surprising that the Leicester quartet’s biggest single to date, Fire, was also the anthem to several sporting montages and television promos: if entering rowdy, sweaty mobs with drunken men and women who should know better is your thing, then you are probably into the musical services Kasabian are offering.

Or, were offering. The poses are the same and the guitars are still as loud as before, but their most recent album, 2011’s favourably-received Velociraptor! sees them attempt ballads, psychadelic rock and other subgenres that don’t bode well for the general Kasabian ethos. No-one in the cavernous Hordern Pavillion (forever the home of horrible sound quality and poor lighting) wants to admit it – everyone is a bit too sweaty, too drunk, too entranced by guitarist and songwriter’s Serge Pizzorno tight jeans – but even the most well-written slow song can throw off a good feeling at a rock show.

This meant whenever they hit these waters, frontman Tom Meihgan (otherwise known as One Man’s Endearing Attempt at Every Known Rock Vocalist Cliché for the uninitiated) had to work twice as hard to get the crowd back on his side. Adding to these woes is their sudden taste of including tracks from their debut, self-titled LP which can be best described as the “tracks that everyone wanted to forget from their debut, self-titled LP”.

It wasn’t entirely a stop-start affair: a mid-set string of some of their biggest hits across their four records brought out a response from the audience that resembled the best moments of the Big Day Out festivals they are currently headlining: united, ferocious throngs of happiness and passion with people you’ve never met and hopefully will never meet again. And the encore, involving the entire crowd of four thousand sitting before leaping to their feet as Fire hits its “drop”, was ecstatic. I’d expect their Big Day Out sets to be comprised of mostly these moments.

But you could still smell the scent of awkwardness around the ebbs and flows the show took. In a way, you could argue that it wasn’t even the direction they as a band wanted to take the show. You could argue that this is their headline show and they have every right to play the songs the long-time fans want to hear; an argument doesn’t explain the lack of fan-favourites Reason is Treason and Stuntman. Another argument would be that live interpretations would breathe the proverbial new life into these other numbers. But with an expanded six-piece set up (which was still overshadowed by pre-recorded material) it all sounded pitch-perfect, bar the venue being its usual negligent self to any level of aural depth.

The last argument you could make is that this reviewer is simply looking too deeply into the Kasabian Experience™; That a Kasabian show shouldn’t have depth, but is to be taken on face value. Face value, for those interested, dictates that this was a 90-minute set of “rock” by a group of “British lads” that, if the chanting from the crowd comprised of Teenagers Who Still Buy CDs and British Natives Who Look Out Of Place Anywhere Else, are “fucking awesome”.

It was preceded by a 45-minute set by The Vaccines performing mostly unoriginal pieces competently enough. Interestingly, a small part of the audience left after their set, which only raises the question, “Why anyone would pay $80 to only see a support set in any context other than Jay-Z supporting U2?”

If everything was taken on face value, then the amount of poor, naive souls who leave Nickelback concerts bearing large grins would make that group of Canadians critical darlings. It would mean the Foo Fighters would already be considered greater than Nirvana by everyone. Yes, a great time was had. Fair enough. For the record Kasabian are not leaving this review without some sort of recommendation for you to see them at the upcoming Big Day Out shows because when they do hit the mark, they hit it well. But where they fail is on further inspection, like noticing your brand new home that you though was perfect and ready to move into has a termite problem. It’s a slight irritant at best and a complete deterrent at worst.

In 2007 they played non-stop for 45 minutes to a sold out Enmore Theatre to amazing effect. This time they played longer, to a much bigger crowd with a lot more material in-hand, but without the same wow factor.