Impossible as it may be to believe these days, but pop music was once a restless, hungry, evolving beast. The Beatles split in 1969 and just seven years later Bolan had risen and fallen, Kraftwerk had driven their "Autobahn" and Donna Summer was releasing an extraordinarily beautiful synthetic song called "Love To Love You Baby", a single which would have been impossible just two years before.
It often seems it might as well not have happened. Faced with the infinite possibilities of the synth, guitar rock promptly hid inside its grimy cardigan. The eighties saw excitement in the form of New Order and Duran Duran, but since then only a few maverick guitar bands like My Bloody Valentine, Curve and The Prodigy have fused the liquidity of dance with the raw gut power of rock.
Hence the interest in Kasabian, the only rock band of the moment who have grasped that there's more to life than guitars, you know (but not much more). The feverish reception that "LSF" gets tonight proves just how galvanising this kind of music can be, built from hip hop beats, eerie synths and monumental, sneering vocals. Arms go up in the air, every word is sung back perfectly and it becomes obvious that this is an anthem that has been grasped with greedy, hungry hands.
But they're hands which often go empty tonight. Live, Kasabian are a far rockier animal than they are on record, with Zeppelin riffs more popular than pulsing electronica. Tom sneers and poses like Jet's long lost sister, songwriter Serge cranks out his keyboard riffs and sometimes Kasabian sound like that in this dance/rock band there are two much lesser bands screaming to get out. Or, worse, Kula Shaker.
But quibbles aside there is much to enjoy tonight, from the surprisingly muscular "Processed Beats" to the aggression of "Butcher Blues", with its Asian samples giving way to shrieking FX. They're better at this trick than The Rapture though not so good as Deaf Stereo, but they are at least trying and invigorating. They deserve your attention if not yet your love.
