banshee I hear you call / we need to raise the dead / we need to raise the people
Last night, desertgoddess and I got to see Kasabian live.
Incredible show!
First off, the fact that we got to see the recent winner of NME's Best Band award and the headliners of this summer's Leeds and Reading festivals at a small club felt like quite a treat. I don't know why they aren't bigger in the states. But the fact that they aren't meant that we could see them in an intimate venue, standing at the back of the club (where there's a nice incline - beneficial to hobbit-sized folks like me) near the soundboard (less muddy sound than up front), and still have excellent views of their onstage antics.
I do wonder if they scaled down the lighting for the venue at all, however, as it was pretty damn intense. MANY lights, much strobing and pulsing at seizure-inducing levels. It was slightly disappointing that the interlocking naked people circular emblem thingy in the backdrop didn't spin, as we were (jokingly) hoping it would.
Additionally, I wonder if the band has been spoiled by their popularity back home, as they seemed almost frustrated by the audience's more laid back response, repeatedly urging us to get our hands in the air. Serge kind of acted as a human applause sign, clapping at us as though to motivate more applause and cheers than they were already receiving. Which is not to say the audience wasn't receptive. And we became more responsive as the show went on. Just maybe Kasabian are used to U.K. audiences. Their ability to get the hipster Philly audience to unfold their arms and move at all should be seen as a small miracle. *g*
Best of all was the older, gray-haired man in flannel near me who, although looking like he'd just stepped out of a Cabela's ad, danced around wildly, looking like James Cromwell possessed by Thom Yorke. He wins the gold star for the night.
Is it weird that, as I watched Serge on stage, I thought: "This is the closest I'll probably ever get to Noel Fielding"? (Sergio and Noel are very close friends, fyi.) Yeah, not obsessed with Noel. At. All.
Further along that line, I thought the guy in front of me at the show looked a tiny bit like Mike Fielding, at least from behind. He had a fitted silver-gray monkey leather jacket and gray fedora and was the right height and everything. And because I am a weirdo, I kept waiting for him to turn enough so that I could see his face. Just in case, you know? Of course, he wasn't Mike.
Anyway, high-energy show. There was a lot of rock & roll swagger. Tom didn't take off his shades until halfway through the set, and I'm not sure the rhythm guitarist ever took his off at all. Overall, it was a solid performance that steamrollered ahead with only the briefest calm-downs. Impossible to stay still.
Serge told some cracked-out story about mushroom pizza (certainly he meant the fungal kind of mushrooms... cough) and also commented on how there's always a particular smell at Philadelphia shows. (He couldn't have meant the weed. Nope.)
Opening act Hacienda from San Antonio were very good as well. Very 90s, but enjoyably so. Not dated.
Kasabian setlist:
Days Are Forgotten
Shoot The Runner
Velociraptor!
Underdog
Where Did All The Love Go?
I.D.
Thick As Thieves
Take Aim
Club Foot
Re-Wired
Man Of Simple Pleasures
Stuntman
L.S.F.
encore:
Switchblade Smiles
Vlad The Impaler
Fire
Some photos snagged from tumblr (black-and-whites from kindofpersonal, color photos from mrsbobloblaw420):
Very good quality video of the first two songs:
And my favorite Kasabian song (no, it has nothing to do with Noel starring in the music video *shifty eyes*):
You can tell from that video just how bass (drum and guitar) heavy the sound was... but in a good, infectious, dance-inspiring kind of way.
Also, S. and I saw Tom and possibly other members of the band (I don't really know anyone's name besides Tom and Serge, oops) walk past us on the sidewalk (I think heading toward their tour bus around the corner) while we ate our dinner outside. I had a difficult time not staring, which one of them noticed. Oops, again!
And S. said she saw some of them - including Serge this time - walk past her and down South shortly before I arrived.
You just know if that had happened in London they'd be mobbed.
Oh yeah, and during dinner, a table near us filled up with some guys, several of whom had Northern English accents. <3
Great, Anglophile-friendly conclusion to what had begun as a very dreary day!
Incredible show!
First off, the fact that we got to see the recent winner of NME's Best Band award and the headliners of this summer's Leeds and Reading festivals at a small club felt like quite a treat. I don't know why they aren't bigger in the states. But the fact that they aren't meant that we could see them in an intimate venue, standing at the back of the club (where there's a nice incline - beneficial to hobbit-sized folks like me) near the soundboard (less muddy sound than up front), and still have excellent views of their onstage antics.
I do wonder if they scaled down the lighting for the venue at all, however, as it was pretty damn intense. MANY lights, much strobing and pulsing at seizure-inducing levels. It was slightly disappointing that the interlocking naked people circular emblem thingy in the backdrop didn't spin, as we were (jokingly) hoping it would.
Additionally, I wonder if the band has been spoiled by their popularity back home, as they seemed almost frustrated by the audience's more laid back response, repeatedly urging us to get our hands in the air. Serge kind of acted as a human applause sign, clapping at us as though to motivate more applause and cheers than they were already receiving. Which is not to say the audience wasn't receptive. And we became more responsive as the show went on. Just maybe Kasabian are used to U.K. audiences. Their ability to get the hipster Philly audience to unfold their arms and move at all should be seen as a small miracle. *g*
Best of all was the older, gray-haired man in flannel near me who, although looking like he'd just stepped out of a Cabela's ad, danced around wildly, looking like James Cromwell possessed by Thom Yorke. He wins the gold star for the night.
Is it weird that, as I watched Serge on stage, I thought: "This is the closest I'll probably ever get to Noel Fielding"? (Sergio and Noel are very close friends, fyi.) Yeah, not obsessed with Noel. At. All.
Further along that line, I thought the guy in front of me at the show looked a tiny bit like Mike Fielding, at least from behind. He had a fitted silver-gray monkey leather jacket and gray fedora and was the right height and everything. And because I am a weirdo, I kept waiting for him to turn enough so that I could see his face. Just in case, you know? Of course, he wasn't Mike.
Anyway, high-energy show. There was a lot of rock & roll swagger. Tom didn't take off his shades until halfway through the set, and I'm not sure the rhythm guitarist ever took his off at all. Overall, it was a solid performance that steamrollered ahead with only the briefest calm-downs. Impossible to stay still.
Serge told some cracked-out story about mushroom pizza (certainly he meant the fungal kind of mushrooms... cough) and also commented on how there's always a particular smell at Philadelphia shows. (He couldn't have meant the weed. Nope.)
Opening act Hacienda from San Antonio were very good as well. Very 90s, but enjoyably so. Not dated.
Kasabian setlist:
Days Are Forgotten
Shoot The Runner
Velociraptor!
Underdog
Where Did All The Love Go?
I.D.
Thick As Thieves
Take Aim
Club Foot
Re-Wired
Man Of Simple Pleasures
Stuntman
L.S.F.
encore:
Switchblade Smiles
Vlad The Impaler
Fire
Some photos snagged from tumblr (black-and-whites from kindofpersonal, color photos from mrsbobloblaw420):
Very good quality video of the first two songs:
Click to viewAnd my favorite Kasabian song (no, it has nothing to do with Noel starring in the music video *shifty eyes*):
You can tell from that video just how bass (drum and guitar) heavy the sound was... but in a good, infectious, dance-inspiring kind of way.
Also, S. and I saw Tom and possibly other members of the band (I don't really know anyone's name besides Tom and Serge, oops) walk past us on the sidewalk (I think heading toward their tour bus around the corner) while we ate our dinner outside. I had a difficult time not staring, which one of them noticed. Oops, again!
And S. said she saw some of them - including Serge this time - walk past her and down South shortly before I arrived.
You just know if that had happened in London they'd be mobbed.
Oh yeah, and during dinner, a table near us filled up with some guys, several of whom had Northern English accents. <3
Great, Anglophile-friendly conclusion to what had begun as a very dreary day!