Live review: Kaiser Chiefs in Leeds, United Kingdom

The Kaiser Chiefs returned to the city of Leeds for their homecoming gig at Elland Road, the home ground of Leeds United Football Club, a firm favourite of the band. Having risen the ranks in such a short time (with only 2 albums to their name thus far), a show in front of their own people promised to be an occasion not to be missed; the deal made even more sweeter by the fact that Leeds Utd were due to play in the playoff finals the next day at Wembley. This meant the crowd was buzzing to the tune ‘Leeds’, Leeds went on to lose the final. Never mind.

Support acts: Friendly Fires, The Young Knives

With doors opening at 3pm, and the Kaisers not expected on until 9, the gap was filled by a number of band and artists in a mini-festival vibe. First on were Friendly Fires, who were unspectacular but tidy in their opening slot. With the stadium filling, now seemed like a time to go get refreshments before a better known band, and a personal favourite, the Young Knives, performed. However, with a half an hour queue for beer, I ended up missing the first few bloody songs before making it out before The Decision. The Young Knives provided a bit of charm and style in their performance, as well as a few pounding hits, concluding with She's Attracted To.

Kate Nash

Next up was Kate Nash. Now would have made a better time to go wait for beers. As some may agree, Nash's err... ‘vocals’take on the form of mostly fast talking chav gibberish with a rather unconvincing Eastenders-cockney accent. After shredding my ears and mangling a piano with Pumpkin Soup, an excuse for a toilet break was never needed so much. Unfortunately I made it back for the rest of her set. As the Leeds pit started their umpteenth rendition of the clubs favourite sing along, Nash declared that the only football chant she knew was “you're shit and you know you are!”. Probably a good reason why she is more familiar with that particular chant.

The Enemy

The Enemy provided the main support band, and the Coventry boys made a fair impact on the crowd, after being introduced by BBC Radio 1 DJ (and Leeds man) Chris Moyles, and starting everyone off on a Yorkshire chant. The Enemy made for a decent show, with their pop hits Away From Here, This Song Is About You, We'll Live And Die In These Towns and Had Enough all making for a good shout and bounce. Moyles had one more trick up his sleeve though. If you thought Nash was the only talentless piece to make it big to take to the stage, Moyles introduced UK producer and DJ Mark “I know how to skip to the best songs on itunes” Ronson, the man responsible for the reworked versions of Valerie (Amy Winehouse) and the Kaiser Chiefs own Oh My God (Lily Allen). Playing a set that would make the most cheesy wedding DJ blush, Ronson ran through “his” hits, much to the delight of the 8 people standing in front of him. Of course Seven Nation Army and Smells Like Teen Spirit got a good mosh going, but we really didn't need Mark Ronson playing them to get that response.

Main act: Kaiser Chiefs

After all the commotion, the curtain fell to reveal the Kaiser Chiefs to the people of their city, which led to another chorus of “Leeds Leeds Leeds” chants. Running through the hits from Employment and Yours Truly, Angry Mob, and throwing in several new songs, the Yorkshire men made for an impressive show. One new song had front man Ricky Wilson running all the way to the centre spot to climb the scaffoldings and sing up there, and Modern Way included a cameo appearance from The Cribs' own Ryan Jarman. I Predict A Riot brought it's usual mayhem to the floor, and The Angry Mob had a finish not dissimilar to that of Oh My God, with the constant chanted repeating of the chorus. The latter was saved for the 3 song encore and, indeed, the final song to bring the curtain back down on the homecoming show.

Verdict: The Kaiser Chiefs brought all the enthusiasm and energy you'd expect for a band performing in front of 35,000 of their neighbours. A few more new songs than I was expecting for this show, but anything they did was bound to go down well this night. I can't ever remember a gig that was so focused around a set of fans that all follow the same football team, but this was their show, Leeds' show, and the only success story on a football pitch for Leeds this weekend.

Liam