Kasabian, O2 Arena - review

Their fourth album Velociraptor! confidently veers off into mariachi, psychedelia and Middle Eastern sounds.

So it's unfortunate that the first of three concerts this month at the O2 Arena - where they also play tonight and finish with a New Year's Eve show - was never quite as adventurous as their songwriting.

It started promisingly with guitarist Sergio Pizzorno's gnarly riffs on Days Are Forgotten, during which singer Tom Meighan first appeared as a menacing, ghostly image on a giant screen.

In the flesh, Meighan was a little more ridiculous. He seemed to be wearing the world's largest remembrance poppy, a month after everyone else wore theirs, as well as sunglasses and a solid looking quiff. Meighan was not short on self-belief, though. He delivered a sharp vocal on the glam-rock stomp Shoot The Runner and the fierce Velociraptor! and when he wasn't singing simply held his arms out and beckoned for adoration.

"This one is a classic," the singer declared of Where Did All the Love Go? - a meandering tune that was almost as good as he thought.

He also lingered over the all-female string section, describing them as "very, very nice", which is probably not the way to introduce classically trained musicians. Meighan's rabble-rousing style was enough to keep shirtless men swaying on mates' shoulders during the psychedelic number Underdog.

But Kasabian never offered any real arena surprises and were in danger of failing to live up to their own hype.

They seemed to deflate in response to waning interest in the less combustible songs and it then fell to Pizzorno to revive things with a blistering lead vocal on mariachi-influenced Take Aim.

While Kasabian's fans have loyally bought their recent albums, they were still clearly wedded to the blazing electro-rock of early hits Club Foot and LSF but unmoved by the oddly retro Goodbye Kiss from the latest record.

There was no ambivalence about the encore, though, and the whole arena erupted for the sprightly anthem Fire.

Whatever their faults, Kasabian will undoubtedly see in 2012 at the O2 with a bang.

NYE Re:Wired: Kasabian, Chase & Status
The O2 Arena
Peninsula Square, Greenwich, SE10 0DX