With singer Ricky Wilson distracted by judging The Voice UK and songwriting drummer Nick Hodgson fleeing the camp entirely, the road ahead seems treacherous for Kaiser Chiefs. If the writing is on the wall, the Leeds quintet are refusing to read it: their fifth album Education, Education, Education and War arrives next month.
They played only hits and new material on last night’s low-key return. I Predict a Riot, the strangely moving Oh My God and Never Miss a Beat reaffirmed Kaiser Chiefs’ status as great British indiepoppers. When Wilson sauntered through the crowd during You Can Have it All (dedicated to “anyone who’s ever been on a TV talent show”) before belting out The Angry Mob perched on the soundman’s cage, he reaffirmed his own status as one of this century’s finer frontmen. But when before Little Shocks he boasted about being well-paid for a Barclaycard ad featuring Kaiser Chiefs filmed at the Scala, he seemed taken aback by being jeered. The blip was temporary but he won’t be so crass again in a hurry.
Nobody could pretend that the new material is as light on its feet as the old but Coming Home had an engaging wistfulness; Misery Company was part Razorlight, part The Laughing Policeman and there was surprising depth to Cannons.
The nostalgia trap still beckons: Kaiser Chiefs may yet escape.
