Kaiser Chiefs – Lincoln Castle – Friday 28 June 2024.

A summer season of concerts at Lincoln Castle has seen the likes of New Zealand soft rockers Crowded House and British pop sensations Madness perform sell out nights,

I saw Kaiser Chiefs last year at the Tramlines Festival in Sheffield. It was one of the wettest days in recent memory. It was so bad that after three days the festival organisers had to reinvest what was no doubt the majority of their profits from the weekend (probably more it was literally millions of pounds) to relay the turf at the Hillsborough Park at the behest of Sheffield Council. The park really was in a terrible state after a real washout of a festival. The bands were brilliant but the torrential and constant rain throughout put a real dampener on the whole event, so I was keen to see the Kaisers again soon.

Thankfully that opportunity wasn’t too far away and here in Lincoln the sun has been shining all day. The weather is warm at least until the sun goes down but the rain that seems to have blighted every other outdoor gig so far this summer is nowhere to be seen.

As the cathedral clock strikes nine, Ricky Wilson and the rest of the band race onto the stage and burst into Feeling Alright – a track from their new album, followed by Never Miss A Beat which is simply great. A few more new songs follow in Beautiful Girl and How 2 Dance before Wilson takes a moment to explain the reason for playing new songs “We know you want to hear the old songs and we’ll play them, it’ll get better, but we have to play new songs because that is what allows us to come and play live.” It’s a shame that Wilson feels the need to apologise for playing new music.

Wilson is a lively presence on stage, he stands on a guitar amplifier for most of the show, jumping off occasionally to race around the stage, interacting with the fans and whipping up a virtual, if thankfully not literal, storm. Of course the Kaisers are brilliant and they power through several crowd-pleasers including Modern Way, Ruby, I Predict a Riot and The Angry Mob to a very appreciative audience.

In terms of sound and style the Kaisers occasionally stray into pop territory with the likes of How 2 Dance but generally they are a solid five-piece rock outfit that bang out observantly penned lyrics to a sound of twin guitars, bass and thumping drums. They sound a little heavier live than on their studio albums and that’s very welcome.

What’s also welcome is that they resist the urge to meddle with their songs – playing them fairly straight and consistent with how they were recorded in the studio. Instead of altering their songs either lyrically or musically they express themselves through the interactions of their enigmatic frontman Wilson who has the crowd fully engaged. 

They take a short break before returning to the stage to huge cheers to give us a double hit of Coming Home and Oh My God as a stunning encore.

The Kaisers have a loyal following, and they’ve remained current and popular for over 20 years – a feat few bands can match – and they’re still selling out stadiums and outdoor arenas as if it were easy.

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