The Scene: To be honest the turn out was weak. No wonder more bands of this nature don’t come through Denver on the weekends. Kasabian, already huge in the UK and hot on the heals of the release of their second album Empire, should be selling out venues like The Gothic, however they aren’t in Denver. There were a few soccer jerseys in the crowd as one would expect at a Kasabian show and those who showed up were largely familiar with the music. By midway through the set the crowd’s energy was building and by the time they left the stage Kasabian had the crowd whipped up into a small frenzy.
Opener: onethousand pictures. To be honest we walked in with only 2 songs left in their set so I wasn’t really able to form an opinion of these guys. From what I saw they had tons of energy and were playing their hearts out for the fairly empty room.
Mew. Again I wasn’t paying a heck of a lot of attention to these guys but the screen that they had behind them played some interesting animations throughout their set. Kasabian could learn a little bit about production values from them. They had the benefit of playing later in the evening so the crowd had a chance to fill in a bit throughout their set and they surely won over some of the crowd.
Kasabian: After stripping all of the backdrop away and leaving only a bare black wall half covered with a black curtain Kasabian took the stage at 10:45. They opened with the second track off of their recent release Empire launched into an extremely energetic set that really took off with Reason Is Treason from their debut album.
Frontman Tom Meighan danced and gyrated his way around the stage as he belted out lyrics that are, in all honesty, a bit contrary to his slightly flamboyant stage presence. Without letting that get in the way the band pumped the gothic full of their bottom heavy sound and riled up the crowd with hits such as LSF and Processed Beats from Kasabian and newer tracks “By My Side,” “Sun Rise” and “Stuntman” from the Empire release.
Guitarist Sergio Pizzorno shared center stage with Meighan and added harmony vocals, and some wicked guitar licks throughout the evening. By the end of the 90 minute set the crowd was in great form, letting the band know what they thought of the digitally enhanced 21st century rock-n-roll that Kasabian has pioneered so effectively.
I look forward to Kasabian’s next tour through the US and hope that they ratchet their stage show up a bit and add some more visual elements. The first time they came through the US their light show was overpowering and while that was a little intense, it complemented the agressive tone of the music very well. They are a young band and if they continue to push forward and stay under the wing of Brit Pop superstars Oasis their star will continue to rise.
Energy: A
Sound: B+
Muscianship: B
Stage Presence: A
Set/Light Show: B-
Overall: B+
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