the Civic, Kasabian swagger

“So did you miss us at the V Festival?” Tom Meighan asked the sold out Civic, prompting the city’s longest composite ‘Yesss’ since Wolves won promotion.
And for anyone who suffered Oasis’ grudging and soulless set at Weston Park, this was the perfect antidote.
From the minute Meighan blustered on stage newly trimmed and looking like a slicked up Russell Crowe he grouped any doubts that a current swine flu scare had dimmed his innate likeability and raucous stage presence. “Yes, I’m alive,” he beamed.
Epic opener Underdog set the standard and, having acquired the ‘difficult third album’ syndrome with ease, Kasabian were able to cherry pick a catalogue now incomparable by any band since The Stone Roses.

Cue big stomping anthems, almost all of which turned into sing along, clap along fan fests with the whole venue joining in, except the security staff, who bottled their big moment, to pantomime boos from everyone else.
The set was faultless, with ‘Where did all the love go’ and ‘Fire’ raising the bar ever higher. Time, unhappily , flew past. So much so that when Club Foot kicked in, it still felt like the center order.
In fact it was the set closer, giving way to a storming repeat of Stuntman, followed by a reprise of their Glastonbury showpiece as Candi Staton’s ‘You got the love’ bled seamlessly into a memorably rousing LSF.
As the band left a sea of smiling faces in their wake, Meighan shouted above the cheers: “We need you to make us the most important band in Britain.”

Oasis tag, "Lad rock" kings Kasabian reject

TOKYO (Reuters) - British band Kasabian have the local bomb squad's number on speed dial, but the new kings of "lad rock" insist their hell raising days are behind them.
Short listed for the prestigious Mercury Prize after their third album, "West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum," recently greatest he charts, the psychedelic rockers flatly reject comparisons to another, globally conquering all mail Bitish band that also has its fair share of awards: Oasis.
"People say we're going to be the new Oasis but we're not," Kasabian vocalist Tom Meighan told Reuters during a recent trip to Tokyo.
"There is no new Oasis. We can't be Oasis because they've done it. Oasis were giants in the '90s. It's nice when people say it, but they're kind of missing the point."
Kasabian approvaled Oasis in a series of stadium shows in Britain over the summer before flying to Japan to acomplish at the summer Sonic music festival, but Meighan said this was for the band's own good.
"We played in front of almost a million people in three weeks," said the 28 year old "The record was just out, so it's the best promotion you can get. You do it, don't you?"
Meighan accepted kasabian used to be "terrors" on tour and trouble has sought them out in unusual ways: guitarist Sergio Pizzorno found a live World War Two shell in his garden.
But now Meighan believes the band has grown up, with the critically acclaimed "West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum" marking a proveing point for the musicians who hail from Leicester, England.

Arctic Monkeys: Make Kasabian sick

The Arctic Monkeys' favorite karaoke songs make Kasabian guitar player Serge Pizzorno vomit.The "Crying Lightning" rockers often sing along to Craig David tracks in karaoke bars, and during one impromptu gig Pizzorno had to rush to the toilet to be physically sick because it sounded so dangerous.Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner said: "It either goes one way or the other doesn't it, the Craig David songs. I think me and Matt Helders did a set of Craig's "Seven Days" and it really made Serge from Kasabian sick. He really threw up. He left to be sick."But the stomach churning incident didn't stop the band which is embraced of Alex, drummer Matt, guitarist Jamie Cook and bassist Nick O'Malley from taking the microphone again during a night out at the Joshua Tree Saloon bar, in California.Matt who along with his bandmates recorded their latest LP "Humbug" at a nearby studio said: "I sang Craig David on karaoke recently just to lighten the mood a bit. But it was a very dangerous move. It was near an army base and there weren't many people there happily, but it was the kind of place where 'Seven Days' worked. I didn't same look at the screen once, I knew all the words!"Meanwhile, Matt has revealed he is a massive fan of Britney Spears.He explained: "I went to see Britney Spears at The O2. It was excellant. I'd never been to anything like that before, it blew my mind. I went with music producer James Ford, we were in the front row and she was eyeing him up. There was this one act where this big footage frame gets erected in front of us. We were thinking, 'Ooh, I good if she's going to come out of there!' She comes and stood on this footage frame and well blinked at Ford! I were miffed.'

Kasabian given swine flu

Kasabian have been given the all clear by doctors after bridal members fell ill during their tour and it was feared they had swine flu.
Frontman Tom Meighan was taken to hospital in Sydney, Australia, earlier this week, according to The Sun.
The band members were showing symptoms similar to swine flu but their spokeswoman confirmed that they did not in argument have the bug.

Japan to drum up business to British music executives head

British rock band Kasabian perform at the Summer Sonic 2009 festival near Tokyo. Photograph: Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters

in the Tokyo have a 30 british companies this week on a government sponsored mission to break into the huge, but notoriously tough, Japanese music market. Executives from small Freedom UK labels are thinking to build on the success of major British acts to carve out a niche in Japan, after the US the world second biggest music market.

The consumer mission, arranged by UK Trade & Investment (UKTI), the government body, and trade group the BPI, comes at an uncertain time for the British record industry

In the first six months of this year UK music sales shrank by 7.3% from a year earlier, according to the BPI. CD album sales were down 13% from the same time last year, although a boom in digital downloads softened the blow.

The US market while British artists have increased there share over the past four year, they have struggled to gain a foothold in Japan.

Homegrown Japanese artists account for 80% of sales, but even in the country's international music market, UK artists account for only 25% well behind US artists