The last time I set foot inside the grounds of Alexandra Place, was for a wedding reception. Tonight I am squished inside the huge grandeur hall, waiting – more so out of curiosity – for Kasabian.

I freely admit I am here with an open mind, not knowing how the Leicester four-piece can bring their blend of dance-beats and indie rock to the stage and more concerningly, whether they can pull it off.  Ally Pally’s a big place, perhaps they are being little presumptious. For starters, I can’t avoid eyeing up the high ceiling and wondering how that will affect the acoustics.

Bright lights blind as they emerge from behind the curtain back-drop and the atmosphere is cranked up by 10 notches, boosted by plastic pint glasses showering beer over our heads and a naked inflatable doll crowd surfing. Unleashing their pounding electronic rock literally shakes the floor and me all over and they’re only onto the second song of the set.

Guitarist Serge Pizzorno was whacked on the head with a glass bottle at the start of this tour in Glasgow but tonight he appears unscathed while frontman Tom Meighan (the weedy little thing) whom duly shares the vocals, swaggers to the front. Very little banter is exchanged, in fact hardly any, which makes for plenty of silent gaps in between each song until Meighan throws in the obligatory “We love you, Alleeeeeeee Palllllllleeeeeeeeeee!” Who cares, when you can make the floor quake, boys.

‘Test Transmission’ has the heaving crowd dancing, ‘Processed Beats’ has them singing at the top of their voices and ‘Cutt Off’ gets them reciting lyric for lyric, word for word. ‘Club Foot’ seals the end of the show and what is truly a thunderous performance. No lie, my pants were buzzing all night.

Impossible not to compare to the Stone Roses, Primal Scream and a bunch of other bands that take their influences from dance, hip-hop and the rave culture, tonight Kasabian are up there with the big boys. No, let me rephrase that – they’ve pushed their way to the front. Don’t bother questioning them, take heed. Then you’ll understand exactly what I mean.

(4½/5)

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Photo: Jill Furmanovsky