Jul 17 2007 21:21 BST

Kasabian - Somerset House, London

Somerset House rocks n' rolls for the second night of the Summer Series

By: News Desk

The 'there'd be no Kasabian without Oasis' discussion point seems a pointless one tonight as London's marvellous Somerset House venue basks in glorious colour and darkness - with the stage set for one of the country's most determined live acts. And when the midlands five piece take to the stage shortly after 10pm, you wonder what sort of band we'd have tonight tearing it up without the influence of their Manchunian elders.

Doubtless, Serge Pizzorno would still be grinding out riffs as the band's off-centre ringmaster, and Tom Meigham, singer and erstwhile town crier, would doubtless be belting out ragged, British-centric vocals. But would a different key make a difference to such a self-proclaimed 'people's band'? Hardly.

Kasabian are nobody's fools but even the most doe-eyed of fans were left unsmitten with their second album "Emire" and it's sub-standard Oasis far. In the main, it led fans up the garden path, away from their early, Stone Roses-inspired psychedelica and into a house of reason, but tonight, the middle-class surroundings of Somerset House do little to detract from the band's working class smash-and-grab routine.

Hits come and go; "Club Foot" is unmissible, and the opening salvo of Serge Pizzorno meandering guitar solo and Meighan's uplift on "Shoot The Runner" create uphoria. It's soon notable though to the smattering of semi-plastered audience members (yes, there were some) that the new material doesn't stand well live next to the older tracks - with some notable examples ("Me Plus One" and "The Last Trip" in particular). They close, back where it all started, "Processed Beats", concluding a satisfying night of showmanship. You can't help think they're missing a trick or two though...
--Dylan Jakes

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