Former Kasabian frontman, Tom Meighan, has been working on his redemption arc following his departure from Kasabian and his other controversies. His latest intimate dates demonstrate that there’s room for Meighan and Kasabian in the same musical landscape without the typical tribalism and animosity, it’s just more Kasabian for everyone, right? The Shambolics opened the show for this special last minute show before Christmas in Manchester.

The only support of the night was Scottish indie rockers, The Shambolics. Their abrasive yet accessible sound came straight from the glory days of indie radio rock from the 2000s, complete with overdriven guitars and solos, gang vocals and a drummer with all the same feral energy as Animal himself from The Electric Mayhem.

The Shambolics already have a strong catalogue of guitar driven indie rock bangers like If You Want It and Come and Get It. Their sound is somewhat similar to the likes of The Subways, a mix of old school high octane rock mixed with the accessibility of the 2000s indie radio rock boom, you could show these tracks to anyone and they’d be won over fairly quickly and the live show puts them over the top. The Shambolics are back in Manchester at the Deaf Institute in April for a headline show if you’re desperate to hear more.

My personal favourite song of their set was Universal Credit which is framed as a meeting at the unemployment office and dealing with the frustrating bureaucracy as well the vast amount of people looking down on music as a valid career choice. It has a dry sense of humour about it and it’s sure to connect with a massive chunk of listeners amongst their audience.
Be sure to check out their upcoming headline tour in April, The Shambolics are sure to go down well at the Deaf Institute and they’ll hopefully have merch with them.

After a short break, the lights went out and a selection of excerpts from Star Wars played and with the same sense of over the top grandeur of Darth Vader, Tom Meighan finally made it to the stage. Donning his sunglasses and doing his best Freddie Mercury impression throughout the set, Tom flamboyantly paraded about the stage expertly dodging his massive backing band and instantly winning over an eager crowd. Meighan knew to start with the hits so he started his shift at The Ritz with a Kasabian classic: Underdog. While Kasabian are doing their own thing, it’s great to see Meighan continue to play the songs that helped establish him as a massive name amongst rock fans while still delivering all the energy he could possibly muster.

There are moments where Tom speaks candidly about his struggles and makes it very clear to the audience how much his wife has meant to him for the past few years and even dedicated Better Life to her saying “this song is for my wife, who’s carried me for 5 years”. While the song is a slow ballad, he still manages to display a great deal of energy and it even seems like he cried after the song was over and that’s always an indicator of an artist truly connecting with his material in a real and genuine manner. He even had the same dramatic yet authentic reaction while performing Would You Mind.

The backing band is air tight and play the limited selection of Kasabian tracks with all the attention to detail they could possibly muster leading to arguably some of the best renditions of these tracks heard in recent memory. The mix is truly fantastic with the drums sounding Punchy and bombastic without being overpowering, all three guitarists blended perfectly and the bass held it all together without overpowering Tom. It’s a miracle any of this could work in a live setting but Christmas is the season for miracles.

Shoot the Runner is a particular highlight with its fuzz laden guitar riffs, stomping drums and even a nice tasty guitar solo. The song, like all Kasabian songs on the set, garnered the most rapturous reaction from the audience partially because they’re the songs that people have the most experience with but also because they’ve had the time to become modern rock classics and with time, Meighan’s solo material will have the same reaction.

Meighan said “this song belongs to all of us” about the Kasabian track Where Did All the Love Go and you could apply it to virtually any track on this setlist. Music is a public commodity once it’s released and to have some kind of petty conversation about the real ownership of a song is reductive and hurts everyone in the long run.

Meighan’s solo career may be in its infancy but he’s already acquired a laundry list of songs that translate beautifully to a live setting. The masterful audience participation of Exorcist with its long call and response sections help demonstrate the Queen influence without coming off cliche or derivative. As someone who sees a lot of live music, I’ll be very happy if I never hear a frontman go “AYO” ever again.

Everyone waited patiently for the big hit, a Kerrang staple, easily the best song on Tony Hawk’s Project 8 and one of the most iconic bass riffs of the 21st century. Clubfoot kicked in and the entire room erupted with Meighan stomping around the stage showcasing the same aggression and intensity you’d expect from the big hitters of rock. This song is already immortal and by virtue of him helping create it, so is Meighan.

The set ended with Fire, another mainstay of Kerrang in the late 2000s and 2010s. The band jumped straight into it with the iconic chorus and synth riffs being drilled into the brains of anyone in ear shot and ensuring they would stay for the entire holiday season. Everyone was absolutely feral and screaming their lungs out for one of the best rock songs in recent memory and it was glorious. Earlier on in the set Meighan said “I feed off energy” and he was eating well throughout this entire song.

Fire ended a phenomenal night of killer rock music performed by a cavalcade of seasoned professionals. This tour may have been delayed but the wait was totally worth it. Tom Meighan may be playing smaller venues now but he still seems to have all the drive and dedication to get bigger shows and reach as wide of an audience as he can. It speaks to his character that he can still put in the work to deliver a banger rock show and still connect with several generations of people, some of which weren’t even born during the peak of Kasabian.

The Shambolics (C) Christopher James Ryan Photography

Tom Meighan (C) Christopher James Ryan Photography