Kasabian
The four day weekender of dancing in Thetford Forest with The Script, throwing well worn underwear at Gary Barlow, as well as reminiscing over the classics with Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott,was brought to a spectacular wrap as Kasabian set fire to the Forestry Commission’s stage.
After all their success over the past 20 years, these Leicester lads know how to sell a show out in mere minutes and then throw one hell of a party for all the lucky ticket holders, without a doubt making for the best night in this year's concert series.
The mini-festival-one-night-one-headliner environment had everything that you’d expect; queues of cars eager to get a spot less than a mile away, loitering police officers stood on the least fun side of the gates, meeting strangers in line for the loo, food stalls offering global nourishment as far as the eye could see, topped off with Mary Jane’s perfume in the air. However with all of this, there was just the one bar on offer for the thirsty thousand or so, which actually made for some comical people watching, as by the time most people actually reached the one and only bar, their order was doubled in celebration. It’s funny how easily you can forget how many hands you have when you’re feeling thirsty.
Female fronted alternative indie band Yonaka doused the audience with heavy sounds and a banging stage presence, giving the fine forest people their all for half an hour with the 21st century grungy twist of Wouldn’t Wanna Be Ya as well as the catchy headbanger Bubblegum, along with other heart pumping and foot stomping tracks in their set.
Then Kasabian came along and kicked it up a gear into the stratosphere, hitting the stage to a number of epic cinematic production themes, which, without a word from the guys, had every picnic blanket and chair in sight packed away. People tried their utmost to get as close as humanly possible to all of the action and for all of the tunes that longtime fans love the guys for, as well as their recent greats, which keep this fabulous four at the top of their game. Strangely it seemed like they had played some of their big bangers like the L.S.F. anthem and call to arms for all the crazy lovers You’re in Love With a Psycho really early into their set. Although on second thoughts, there aren’t really a great deal of Kasabian tracks that aren’t widely known bangers...even for someone who thought they wouldn’t know that many songs it actually turned out to be an hour of sing your heart out tunes. Managing to squeeze in all the greats, sadly didn’t leave a lot of time for Ian or Chris, let alone the quiet ones Sergio and Tom,to talk with the audience. Being a Sunday night, before you knew it you were standing in a half empty field...which was a shame for everyone who got away early, as party band Kasabian encored with another couple of tracks, proving themselves the true messiahs for the animals.
With a mixed bag of tricks like this, who can wait to see what the Forestry Commission’s Forest Live concert series will have up their sleeves next year.
