Kasabian, Temper Trap @ TheArena, 24/01/2007

Tue 30th Jan, 2007 in Gig Reviews

Brisbane misses out on its fair share of sideshows each year, not just from Big Day Out, but Splendour In The Grass as well. This year, however, Kasabian decided to include a debut performance at the Arena as part of their first ever Australian tour. They soldiered through some serious sound level problems to blast the roof off the venue, and leave a smile plastered across the face of every punter in the room.

Melbourne band Temper Trap open proceedings with just their second ever Brisbane show. Its fairly ferocious guitar rock, with the wailings of frontman Dougy sitting awkwardly on top. The instrument music is excellent, but the vocals don’t quite lift to match, as Dougy tries to live up to the potential of these songs, and doesn’t quite make it. All this changes for the last two songs, though, as Dougy loses the guitar, performing just vocals, except for a blistering drum assist. In these two songs, the vocals become mind blowingly perfect; it’s clear that Dougy can deliver stunning vocals, and he can play guitar, but he struggles to do both at once. Of course, that will come with time, and when it does, Temper Trap is going to blow the minds of everyone who sees them. They certainly did that tonight.

Kasabian have a reputation for a solid live show, even if their recorded material has never really taken off here in Australia. The Arena tonight is crowded, but then the top floor is closed off, so it’s not exactly a big crowd. Still, theres a lot of noise when the house lights finally go down, especially from a group of English punters, who have clustered themselves in the front corner, and have been chanting since just after Temper Trap left the stage.

The band members take the stage to a raucous cheer, and break into Shoot The Runner from their second album, Empire. Unfortunately, the levels are all wrong; the bass is up so high that it drowns out both the guitars AND Sergio Pizzorno’s vocals. The song is a bit of a mess, as is Reason Is Treason, with Pizzorno abandoning some of the vocals, and simply shouting the high points during the chorus. It’s not getting anyone down though; there’s a surprising party rock atmosphere permeating tonight.

By Cutt Off, the levels seems to have been sorted out, although everything is still turned up to 11, and the crowd is loving it. By My Side and new single Me Plus One lead into Empire, which has been getting some radio airplay, and is well received by the audience. Processed Beats and The Last Trip form the bridge, where the music dials down a little; its slower, but no less intense, and Pizzorno moves around the stage, dancing like a man entranced (by his own music nonetheless). The only weakness is that all the synthesiser parts have been pre-recorded; there’s no keyboard to be seen on stage.

After a quick break, Kasabian return, and a new song leads into the pounding crash intro of Club Foot, with a roaring guitar that (just barely) drowns out the cheer of the appreciative crowd. Another new song, and they wrap it up with LSF (Lost Souls Forever), which is once again a slightly quieter number, if only by comparison. It feels a little off-kilter; the massively popular and louder Club Foot would have been a better number to finish on. Nevertheless, the crowd spills out onto the street, with ears ringing. Tonight has definitely been a gig to remember.