Kasabian, Pop Levi - Somerset House, London - Friday 13th July 2007

Somerset House gigs are usually brilliant, a chance to watch bands play in a stunning courtyard, whilst standing outside on a warm summer evening. The fact that you are outside, but could not be more central in London also helps to make it a weird but great experience. So, an amazing venue, a Friday night, and Kasabian playing, who are becoming more like a modern day version of Oasis as each big gig passes - and by that I mean a very big populist band for lads. Given all this, it had the potential to be a brilliant evening.

This potential was all slightly soured on entering the venue, and encountering the bar queue in the picture here - the bar itself is the white tent literally at the other side of the venue. It took an hour to get from the back of the bar queue to the bar itself, and was a classic example of how to take an amazing venue, then to really dampen people's experience once inside it. So, we all wasted an hour of our lives waiting for a drink, all because the venue couldn't be bothered to fork out for more bar staff, a bigger bar, or quicker beer pumps. It isn't cheap to go to a gig at Somerset House, so being made to wait an hour, when the venue could fix the problem by hiring a few more staff, did make one feel a little bit ripped off. It also doesn't take a genius to work out that "warm evening" + "Friday" + "Kasabian" is likely to mean a strong demand for liquid refreshment. Very, very poor all round on the part of the organisers.

As well as not spending too much money on the bar, the promoters also seemed not to have spent very much on the support band - although they were an American band, they were pretty average I thought. Pop Levi sounded OK enough, and at least we were able to see them whilst queueing for a beer. But despite a couple of catchy songs, their set was generally serving as background music, rather than anything that managed to get the audience too engaged with them.

Now, I mentioned that Kasabian seem to be becoming more like Oasis by the day - and sadly (as well as filling bigger and bigger venues), this also means attracting an "Oasis gig crowd", many of whom would otherwise have been inhabiting pubs that I tend to avoid like the plague. Baseball caps were heavily in evidence, and chavs were all over the place, but the atmosphere was still pretty friendly. I was offered pills on at least 4 occasions, both outside and inside the venue, so maybe that helped to explain the relative calmness.

The audience looked to be split into 3 parts - laddish idiots; people who were desperately copying Oasis or Kasabian fashion and haircuts (the number of pairs of tight jeans, hats, and immaculate indie haircuts I saw was just crazy); and then the relatively normal people, of which of course I was one. Getting Danny Dyer to introduce the band onto the stage really pandered to the idiot section of the crowd, which I really thought was a bad move. Hooray, let's all pretend to be football hooligans whilst at a gig - how big and clever.

Kasabian left it very late to come onto the stage, apparently demanding an extension until 11:30pm, which would allow them to wait until it was properly dark before they started their set. Good on them, because the proper darkness, mixed with the great lighting of the building at Somerset House, made the set seem that much more special. It was almost like being in church (expect with people going mental at the front), which made the whole show seem like a religious experience. Their set was incredible, and it really seemed like a show that they enjoyed playing, not least because of the setting.

Tom the singer initially appeared on stage wearing the pair of Raybans that lots of musicians seem to be sporting at the moment - I'm sure a few hundred pairs were sold to attendees on Saturday. In between songs, I was struck by how much they do seem to be turning into Oasis - right down to the fact that Tom was almost talking to the crowd in a perfect Manc accent - even when he asked "Who's from Leicester?", it didn't sound like he was. Dedicating a song to Noel Gallagher just added to the Oasis love in.

Despite the idiots, and Danny Dyer, and the crazy beer queues, this was a great gig, because Kasabian played an absolutely storming show in a beautiful place. Their set never dipped from being utterly incredible all the way through - the audience knew and loved every song, and the finale of LSF was predictably massive, resulting in choruses echoing down The Strand for a good twenty minutes after the band had left the stage. An hour and a half of consistent brilliance, which makes you believe that they deserve the hype.

A band has to be pretty good to rescue the night after an hour's wait for a drink, and Kasabian were even better than that. I would not be at all surprised if they play Wembley Stadium next summer, such is the rate at which they are becoming the people's band of the moment. Hopefully it won't go to their heads too much.