I predict a riot of love
So there we were, about to witness yet another home coming gig for the Kaiser Chiefs. The crowd was building with a real air of anticipation present before the Main Stage on Saturday night. Peter Kay was the star turn who introduced the band on stage, with 'Na Na Na Na Na' opening the hour-long show, were we all set for a weekend defining moment?
Ricky Wilson is a master at working a crowd, not that they need much persuading of course, with he and his fellow Chiefs playing a well balanced set giving more than enough opportunity for the sea of jumping bodies to go mad.
If you're a Kaiser Chiefs die-hard then I'm sure you could watch them night after night doing the same things, playing the same hits. For the rest of us, enjoyable though 'I Predict A Riot', 'Every Day I Love You Less and Less' and 'Modern Way' are, this year the risk of over exposure has been a genuine one.
So with the old stuff starting to ware thin, did the new stuff fire up the passion inside as the classics did in 2004? Well, not yet they haven't.
The band showcased 'Heat Dies Down', 'Everything Is Average Nowadays', 'High Royds' and 'Angry Mob'. We're told to expect a more grown-up record in 2007 from this band, I'm gonna reserve judgment on whether the new stuff works once the album is ready, and not prejudge on the strength of this set, but I certainly wasn't taken to another world by it.
They rounded off with 'Oh My God', with it's usual mass crowd sing-along, and the fans certainly got what they wanted, for yet another time, and were loving it! Lets hope that when the Kaisers come back in 2007, the break from hearing these songs has done that whole "absence makes the heart grow fonder" thing as despite the fanatics going nuts, this wasn't the occasion it would have been at the Leeds Festival had the Kaisers played in 2005.