This was an excellent gig: entertaining, huge fun, musically solid. Kaiser Chiefs is a tight band, and the guys can rock it quite good enough when they want - the opening four songs were frenetic with energy, as well as that necessary familiarity.
It was a show merging the old with the new. The older anthems remind us not just of their time and the Englishness of the band - that distinctive lineage - but also of the pop significance which is woven into the personal and collective significance of the crowd who during those songs reconnect with their past experiences and other barometers music is uniquely placed to arouse. The newer material will always be an echo of that early glory, but again, it is damn good enough. More than that: listening to Coming Home in the latter part of the gig, and this morning revisiting it on Education, Education, Education and War, I was struck by what a good song it is. Simple, but effective. There is a very good review of the gig here, and I'd like to acknowledge the picture from that which just below shows a grab of the video accompaniment on stage to the performance of Coming Home, this time [and presumably alters for each gig] a visual romp through Plymouth. The review, by the way, details the songs and makes intelligent observations throughout, but there is also a spoiler - so consider this an alert - about the encore so if you are intending to see the Chiefs imminently as they continue their tour, beware.
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| photo from Plymouth Herald |
Ricky Wilson is a consummate frontman and his energy and clear passion for performing is a joy to experience. As I've said, the band is a tight one, and there are many moments when you understand how much more than Britpop they are, and could be [if that was ever needed/desired - perhaps for some, post-Ricky] not least when Andrew White skirts on the edge of psychedelia with his occasional guitar solos.
But for now, Kaiser Chiefs still has the genuine power to make the refrain na na na na naa meaningful enough as sheer uncomplicated musical pleasure to leave the template surviving, rightfully, into its eleventh successful year.
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