Gig Review - Kaiser Chiefs
- Posted on October 26, 2007 3:03 PM
- 0 comments
Scala, 23rd October 2007.
- Review By Holly Groom
There is something quintessentially British about the Kaiser Chiefs – they seem kind of honest and genuine and a little bit geeky. This appears to have stopped them becoming pretentious w****** like so many of their trans-Atlantic contemporaries (I'm talking to you Brandon Flowers) and this is what makes them the institution that they have clearly already become. This British geekyness seems to manifest itself in, among other things, an unfaltering work ethic. The Kaiser Chiefs would never give a bad performance, or write a tune without their trademark addictive hook or - as is increasingly fashionable among Brit bands - not turn up to a show at all. These are boys who know how to do a job properly.
This was undeniably the case at the Scala this week. Ricky Wilson flew about the stage like someone who didn't know he was in one of the biggest rock bands in Britain. It seemed like he felt he still had something to prove to the mass of screaming devotees in front of him. That is probably the reason why, in the past few years, that the mass has grown so huge.
Having never seen the Kaiser Chiefs live before, I found their self deprecating enthusiasm endearing for a band so massive. There can be no argument that they have earned their right to a cocky swagger, and yet I can’t imagine that they are a very different band now to how they might have been when they started out. With Ricky's wild leaping from drum riser to thrilled audience and back again along with Nick Hodgson's laid back enquiry of 'er.. how does this one go?' before the band launched into a perfect rendition of Every Day I Love You Less And Less, they are just wonderfully, unpretentiously brilliant.
Of course I knew that they were going to be good. From the moment Employment was released it was clear the Kaiser Chiefs were competent musicians with catchy tunes that would become country-wide indie disco staples. I didn't realise, however, that in the flesh they would be transformed into such charming little national treasures. They pile in colossal hit upon colossal hit, until even the devout hardcore punk I've dragged along with me admits that the band deserve the enormous mainstream success they now enjoy. They seem to fit into a cannon of great British inventions, along with Hovis bread, Yorkshire Tea and Barbara Windsor - things that seem to both sum up and unite the nation. They certainly united the enraptured crowd who screamed, shrieked, and sang word-perfectly along to every song from start to finish.
The thing about the Kaiser Chiefs is that, no matter how much of a pointy-booted, dead-eyed, I'm-way-too-obscure-for-this-radio-one-bullshit music snob one might consider oneself to be, it is basically impossible to fault them as a band. They are popular because they write genius, anthem worthy, fun pop songs and come across as sincere, intelligent and normal blokes. Perhaps most impressively of all though, is the fact that even after having been on tour for what seems like half a century, they still clearly relish in ripping out an unstoppably brilliant performance as if they were a band who were only just beginning.
For more info on the Kaiser Chiefs check out their MySpace.
If this has wet your appetitie for some Ricky Wilson action, then get your Kaiser Chief tickets here.
What do you think of the Kaiser Chiefs? Can anyone ever really be in the same league as Babs Windsor? Leave us a comment and let us know what you think of the Kaiser Chiefs.
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Kaiser Chiefs Review Scala the kaiser chiefs KAISERCHIEFS THE KASIERCHIEFS
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