When Kasabian sacked their singer, Tom Meighan, the day before he was convicted for assaulting his partner, bandmate Serge Pizzorno stepped up from the ranks as a readymade replacement. The dark-featured, bearded guitarist has always been pivotal to the band’s image and joie de vivre, and his 2019 solo album and tour gave him a chance to test out his skills as frontman.
Here, the man who once scored a perfect volleyed goal on live TV while wearing winkle-picker shoes isn’t fazed by the prospect of facing a vast arena. He bounds on in an outsize, graffiti-covered parka of the sort that Liam Gallagher might reject as being over the top. Rocket Fuel – from the band’s latest album, The Alchemist’s Euphoria – brings the noise, a trademark mix of Prodigy-ish beats and Oasis swagger to tee everyone up for the weekend. “Manchester, it’s Friday!” Pizzorno cries. “Give me a mosh pit!”
