KAISER CHIEFS
Cardiff University
It’s sometimes easy to forget that music is supposed to be fun. Amongst
the stern faces and the skinny jeans, the Kaiser Chiefs offer up a ridiculous
amount of frivolity that goes against the grain of most glum indie bands. And
why shouldn’t they be smiling? With their debut album Employment destroying
the miserablist regime like a frenzied luddite, the Leeds five-piece are back
on joyful form with the irreverently titled Yours Truly, Angry Mob.
It would’ve been so easy to go for an arena slot but the Kaisers know
those sorts of venues are reserved for stool-sitting goons and swaying lighters.
Instead, their university tour draws in an audience demographic that ranges
from flustered pensioners worrying at the prospect of standing up for two hours,
to red-blooded teenagers drooling over female students.
The show kicks of in style. The Kaisers front man Ricky Wilson is a ball of
uncontrollable energy - bouncing off walls and scaling tall speakers just to
fling himself back down to ground level again. The old staples such as I Predict
A Riot and Everyday I Love You Less And Less get the biggest cheers of the
night and the ubiquitous Number One Ruby may sound like a load of lyrical nonsense,
but it doesn’t prevent a mass of bodies gliding their way over the top
of the crowd. The Kaisers are unlikely to reinvent the wheel, but rolling it
down the hill seems like a lot more fun.
Keith Carey
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