Review: Kasabian at the Echo Arena Liverpool

With the touring Kasabian theatrical stage set - including a proscenium arch, no less - they looked every inch the rock icons.

Guitarist Sergio Pizzorno stood fixed to the spot, rangy and languid as ever, while vocalist Tom Meighan strutted round the stage, dreaming he was Ian Brown.

They'd even peppered the set with literary references - projecting 'Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori' above the stage at one point, Ophelia's soliloquy from Hamlet at another.

But rather than explaining anything about the songs or the set, it smacked of A level English literature, of posing for posing's sake.

A small complaint, though as they certainly gave everything they had to the set, belting out the hits and delighting the packed crowd.

Shoot the Runner, Where Did All the Love Go, Club Foot, Cutt Off (dedicated to John Lennon) Vlad the Impaler and new single Underdog were all present and correct.

Fire, the lead single from their current album, was all set to be the best of all, until a technical problem partway through flooded the arena with white noise.

But the fans danced on, flinging their drinks joyfully in the air.

For all their arty posing, Kasabian are at their very best with the big, bold, jubilant anthems.

The big tunes showed flashes of genius, but something just wasn't there for the slower numbers, no matter how hard they tried.

Maybe it's just a question of time.

Their new album, West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum, is their best yet. Serge has said that if he were to get put into a mental asylum, it would be for "setting up a tent in Buckingham Palace, the Queen's house."

It seems the lunatics are in charge of the asylum indeed.

But that's no bad thing...

Maybe sometime soon, with a few years' experience under their skinny belts, they'll be rock royalty in their own right.