Fantastic opening night.

LAST night an air of expectancy hung over the Metro Radio Arena as one of the most anticipated tours of the year kicked off in Newcastle. Kasabian arrived in town on the back of their hugely successful third album West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum, which saw them nominated for the Mercury music prize, win Q's album of the year and reach the top of the album charts for the second time. The expectant capacity crowd were left dazzled and were given confirmation that Kasabian are truly a force to be reckoned with as the Leicester lads gave a mindblowing performance. From the moment the band walked on stage, the arena seemed to be latched on to every word, every note and every beat. Starting off with newer tracks and then belting out the hits was a formula that worked very well as the band look to showcase their new album on their first arena tour since its release.

Although already at fever pitch, the crowd nearly blew the lid off the arena when latest track Underdog was aired early on in the set. The rest of the set was a mix of old and new, punctuating album tracks with stand-out favourites Empire, Fire and Club Foot still reverberating long after the finish.

One minor fault is that some of the longer jams seemed to be lost a little towards the end and one can only assume that being the first night of a tour things are being ironed out a bit.

The magnificent stage scenery was a sight to behold and, along with the music, inspired the crowd and captured the imagination.

ROBERT HARDIE