Kasabian - Live at the o2 Academy, Bristol - 31st October 2021

It’s been quite the time to be a Kasabian fan.

As well as releasing their first new music in four years last week (the rampaging ‘ALYGATYR’), former frontman Tom Meighan also released his first solo effort, a solemn ballad entitled ‘Would You Mind?’, the lyrical content of which is surely aimed at his old friends.

All the while a lengthy, month-long tour continues.

Channelling the same communal, hands-in-the-air spirit as their forebears Oasis, Kasabian have their detractors, but their electro-rock music has always been more interesting than their reputation dictates. The subtraction of Tom Meighan, asked to leave the band last year, means that this tour is certainly one of the more intriguing of the year.

Or it would have been, had the transition to Mark II not been so seamless; Serge Pizzorno has long been the sole mastermind behind their music, ever since the departure of Chris Karloff back in 2005 and, over the years, became more and more prominent both onstage and off.

Arguably, over the last decade they had co-frontmen, but no more. This is unquestionably The Serge Show now, best exemplified tonight by the rest of the band wearing all black to contrast his colourful jacket and white t-shirt.

Along with those years of gradual dominance, his first solo album (under the name The S.L.P.) and accompanying shows in 2019 have clearly given Pizzorno the confidence to step from stage left to front and centre, but he’s made the move appear effortless.

https://www.live4ever.uk.com/2021/11/live-review-kasabian-bristol/