Kaiser Chiefs w/ Streets of Laredo at First Avenue, Minneapolis (13 June 2014) concert review

Kaiser Chiefs at First Avenue Postcard Setlist Ruffians on Parade Everyday I Love You Less and Less Everything Is Average Nowadays The Factory Gates Never Miss a Beat Little Shocks Coming Home You Can Have It All Modern Way Cannons Ruby I Predict a Riot Misery Company The Angry Mob -- Encore -- Meanwhile Up in Heaven Oh My God Tour Dates 06/18/14 Washington, DC 9:30 Club 06/20/14 New York, NY Webster Hall 06/21/14 Firefly Music Festival 06/22/14 Saratoga Springs, NY @ Vapor 06/27/14 Glastonbury Festival 07/13/14 T In The Park 07/20/14 Dour Festival 08/16/14 V Festival (Chelmsford) 08/17/14 V Festival (Shropshire) 09/02/14 Mallorca Rocks Festival 09/03/14 Ibiza Rocks Festival 09/16/14 Vancouver, BC Commodore Ballroom 09/17/14 Seattle, WA Showbox 09/19/14 San Francisco, CA Regency Ballroom 09/21/14 San Diego, CA House Of Blues 09/23/14 Tucson, AZ Rialto Theatre 09/25/14 Austin, TX Stubb's Bar-B-Q 02/13/15 London The O2 - London 02/14/15 Leeds First Direct Arena Read More Kaiser Chiefs The anger is back. Kaiser Chiefs lead singer Ricky Wilson admitted to The Guardian UK earlier this year that he was “angry at myself for having not pulled my weight…

Never miss a beat.

It had been a long seven years since their last appearance in Minneapolis (the band skipped us in 2012), but Leeds, UK band Kaiser Chiefs re-stormed the city and stage for an animated, back-to-glory performance in First Avenue’s Mainroom in Minneapolis over the weekend.

Streets of Laredo

Brooklyn-based band (by the way of Auckland), Streets of Laredo started off the show with a 45 min. set of songs from their Lonsdale Line EP (out now on Dine Alone Records) and upcoming debut full-length LP (due this Fall). The rather large band features seven members, including two brothers, Daniel and David Gibson, and David's wife Sarahjane on the tom-tom and has an earthy folk sound similar in tone to Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes and The Head and The Heart.

The group seemed really excited to be on their first extended tour of America, asking if there were “Any New Zealanders here?” and “…are there any Australians in the house?” only to realize, based on the silenced feedback, that “We’re a long, long way from home.” As an introduction to their song, ‘Lonsdale Line,’ David explained that it was one of the first songs they’d written and was about growing up in “Northside, New Zealand.” They ended their set on a high note with ‘Girlfriend’ and ‘I’m Living.’

Kaiser Chiefs

Lights dimmed and the stage screen rose as Kaiser Chiefs launched headlong into new song, ‘Ruffians on Parade’, which has been getting local radio airplay of late. The five-piece is out in support of their 6^th and latest, Education, Education, Education & War (on Fiction/Caroline/Universal Music) the title of which is a defiant play on a Tony Blair quote, and was well represented throughout the evening as the band played the majority of the new album live.

Singer Ricky Wilson was a slimmed ball of energy- relaxed but restless, bounding back and forth on stage, climbing the drum riser and interacting with the audience, from the very first songs.  New drummer Vijay Mistry ably held down the backbeat as guitarist Andrew "Whitey" White, bassist Simon Rix, keyboardist Nick "Peanut" Baines all played with the same breakneck energy the band had brought to the spotlight some ten years ago.

Setlist

‘Everyday I Love You Less and Less’ had singer Wilson saying at the song’s break, “We have been sent here for one reason… to loudly entertain you!” and the band would deliver on that, in their 80 min. performance.

Follow up song, ‘Everything Is Average Nowadays’ had people pogo-ing in place, including a few groups of native Brits (which Wilson noticed) that were ecstatic to see one of their favorite bands in a venue much smaller than what they would play in their homeland.

Ricky Wilson in denim jacket

‘Never Miss a Beat’ from 2008’s Off With Their Heads took things up a notch, Wilson had shed his denim jacket and had become increasingly antsy so was moving about even more, though still with an overall very jovial and laid-back demeanor.  Longtime fans enjoyed ‘You Can Have It All’ and ‘Modern Way’, both from their first album, Employment; the former, a slower tempo song with a nevertheless catchy chorus, the latter, a  song of loneliness and regret driven by White’s soaring guitar riffs and Baines’ electronic keyboard blips.

Ricky Wilson on the rafters

“Is there anymore beer in here?” Wilson mentioned before ‘Ruby’, wondering aloud how effective the crowd could clap with everyone holding something in their hands. Best known hit, ‘I Predict a Riot’ was the left jab finish to the crosscut punch that was ‘Ruby’, suitably working up the crowd with two back-to-back anthems.  Wilson had made his way up the scaffolding, around the balcony, then perched along the rafters of the DJ booth to end the song, staying there as well for ‘Misery Company’ (featuring Wilson’s Joker-like laugh at the chorus). For the main set closing, ‘The Angry Mob’, Wilson climbed down to run back to the stage, only to head into the middle of the crowd for a rousing end to the song and set.

“I hope I can sing it”, Wilson declared before the encore-opening lyrical imagery of ‘Meanwhile Up in Heaven’ from the new record and its heartfelt, “Meanwhile up in Heaven, they're waiting for you, waiting for you” chorus. ‘Oh My God’ was an extended crowd-pleaser, with Wilson again racing from the stage; this time to the back bar to abscond a bottle of Cutty Sark, as the crowd chanted the chorus back in unison, Wilson mentioning “where were ya?  You were supposed to watch my back”, after nicking the liquor.

Mistry’s drums boomed louder and the finale built into a crashing sonic wall, with the band playing with at least as much energy as the last time we saw them in town… never missing a beat.

Kaiser Chiefs at First Avenue, Minneapolis (13 Jun 2014)

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