Kasabian at Brixton Academy

I have to admit that part of the reason I went to this gig was just to see how Kasabian would perform having sacked their lead vocalist.

But first up were support act the Skinner Brothers. A run of the mill post punk band. Don't expect to see them again

And then Kasabian. Not sure what to say about this performance. One grumble - poor lighting, by which I mean very basic, and reliant on massive amounts of dry ice for effect. And that was particular grumble for me as I was standing next to the dry ice machine. Really gets the back of your throat after a while.

While limited on the light effects, they did go, as you can see below, for a uniform polka dot look on all their equipment - drums, guitars. Which is an interesting bit of styling.

But the monochrome effect was slightly drowned out by Serge's understated tasteful suit. Joseph's technicolour dreamcoat would pale in comparison.

So Serge largely gave up his guitar playing to concentrate on vocals to replace Tom Meighan. And his vocals were fine. But my problem is I don't like this rabble rousing style - a lead singer who constantly prowls up and down the stage like a caged tiger and then exhorts the audience for more noise, more dancing, whatever.

But for me the understated star of the show was the bald bloke on guitar. He actually supported all the hardest vocal bits, so despite remaining in the background he really was vital to the success of the band, something which I think Serge sort of acknowledged at one point between songs where he went over and kissed his bald head!

But it was by no means an unenjoyable performance, and the audience were certainly very enthusiastic. Certainly they have shown they can perform without Tom, and have a worthwhile back catalogue to take on the road.