Kasabian - Happenings
There’s a school of thought from their fans and observers that Kasabian have ‘lost it’ since the departure of singer Tom Meighan (dismissed from the band owing to personal issues in 2020).
It’s an easy but inaccurate line of attack: for all his virtues as a frontman, Meighan was, barring a couple of songs, just that.
The music was created (from album two onwards) by Sergio Pizzorno, and their power as a live act comes from the ferocity of the musicianship.
More pertinently, it ignores a fundamental rule: after a peak (in the form of psychedelic masterpiece West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum 15 years ago), returns were always going to diminish.
Anyone who caught Kasabian’s afternoon set at Glastonbury will know that Pizzorno has confidently and comfortably stepped into the role of frontman with aplomb. As long as they are active, they will always rock a stage to its foundations, with a stack of anthems in their back pocket. But what of this new album?