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Kasabian score a winner

Kasabian. Picture: Ben Crabtree/The West Australian

CONCERT
Kasabian
3.5 stars
Metro City
August 5

REVIEW SIMON COLLINS

After recently closing Glastonbury to tens of thousands of fans, Leicester rave rockers Kasabian played to a far smaller but equally rabid audience in Perth on Tuesday evening.

The capacity Metro City crowd at the first gig of their Australian tour for fifth album 48:13 was dominated by English men and women keen to get a sonic reminder of the brown, brown mud of home. It seemed like half of Leicestershire were there, via Joondalup.

One old chum confirmed that the band's frontmen were soccer mad at school. Songwriter, guitarist and Noel Fielding lookalike Sergio Pizzorno played a great game - he almost went professional - while lippy singer Tom Meighan talked one.

The formation remained the same at Tuesday's fixture. Pizzorno made the plays alongside five teammates, leaving Meighan to slot home goals in front of the adoring terraces.

Kasabian's tactics were attack, attack, attack. No ballads, just bombastic rocker after bombastic rocker with hooks more bendy than a Beckham cross.

After a ballsy 30-minute set from Melbourne rockers the Delta Riggs, the seven-piece hit the stage with new number Bumblebeee, the extra "e" a thinly veiled reference to the techno-culture influences showcased on 48:13.

Later a mash-up of Processed Beats and The Doberman highlighted Pizzorno's love of hip-hop, while Treat - another new track - segued into a Giorgio Moroder-esque electronic outro that had the dancing guitarist and many punters pretending it was Saturday night at the disco.

It was "f…ing good for a Tuesday," according to Pizzorno, who added: "Who said rock'n'roll fans couldn't dance?"

Latest single Eez-eh proved to be Kasabian's impressive attempt at a chav anthem, an update on Underworld's Born Slippy. They later busted out a cover of Fatboy Slim's Praise You, which also went down a treat.

Away from showing an understanding that festival fans (and Perth concert-goers) enjoy a bit of clubland with their rock, the Leicester lads displayed their debt to Oasis, Primal Scream and Spinal Tap.

Their big, dumb but ultimately irresistible hits, including Shoot the Runner, Underdog, Club Foot and Empire, got Metro City pumping.

The match went into extra time with the industrial Switchblade Smile and rabble-rousing Vlad the Impaler, with its call to "get loose" somehow upping the ante before the finale of Fire saw arms, beers and less hefty punters go flying.

What you see is what you get with Kasabian, and the result was in no doubt: back of the net.

Kasabian's tactics were attack, attack, attack. No ballads, just bombastic rocker after bombastic rocker with hooks more bendy than a Beckham cross.