Kasabian – Terminal 5, March 22nd 2012
I’m almost embarrassed to admit that after all the excellent reviews you’ve heard about this band over the years, and the countless gigs and festivals I’ve attended since they emerged on the scene, this was my first ever time seeing Kasabian live. I had missed them by a matter of months when I first arrived in NYC, and unlike most big English bands they hadn’t been back in 6 years. I thought it was never meant to be, and I was 100% certain they'd cancel this gig the day before, but as luck would have it, they didn't.
Kasabian create a huge sound playing live, and I cant help but think they would have been better suited by a bigger venue than Terminal 5. They put on a good mix of the better tracks from their most recent album (Velociraptor) and their older stuff, and even the songs that don’t stand out on the album were excellent when put through their paces live (Switchboard smile springs to mind here). The majority of the songs they played were upbeat entertainers, and although they did slow it down a touch with Thick As Thieves and Man Of Simple Pleasures, this was probably the most animated I’ve ever seen a terminal 5 crowd, including several attempts at crowd surfing which is generally unheard of on these shores. I suppose with 90% of the audience seemingly being British and mostly intoxicated these things are likely to happen.. Serge played up to the crowd well with decent banter, and it was obvious the band appreciated being in New York City (lost count of the number of times Tom said ‘New York City’ in his between song patter). They appreciated the crowd, and the crowd loved them right back. The finale was ‘Fire’, which is an explosively fitting way to end any gig. This was a fantastic show, and the Black Keys playing the same night at that big venue down the road (Madison Square Garden) would have been hard pushed to put on a better show than this.
VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
