Gig Review: Miles Kane @ Pyramids Centre, Portsmouth

Miles Kane @ Pyramids Centre, Portsmouth 26/9

Well what can I say? This certainly dusted away the post gig blues I’ve had since Hard Rock Calling back in June. Funnily enough, I saw Miles Kane live that day, and enjoyed myself so much, I got myself a ticket for his Pompey show the following morning. He was brilliant at the Olympic Park as support for Kasabian, and he kicked off his UK tour in the same fashion.

The Family Rain

First up though was support act The Family Rain, three brothers from Bath. You tend to take pot luck whether support acts are going to be any good or not, but these guys had my attention pretty much from the start. Considering I had never heard of them before I was really impressed. Any band that makes me look them up when I get home deserves a thumbs up. The song that stuck with me most was ‘Pushing It’, although that may be because it reminds of ‘Joker and the Thief’ by Wolfmother. Either way I will definitely be purchasing a copy of their EP.

 Next up was the man the sold out Pyramids Centre had all come to see. There was a real mixture of people in the crowd, with a fair amount of Mods sporting smart polo shirts and impressive haircuts. Cutting short the Oasis track that was playing, Kane burst into ‘Taking Over’, the first song on his latest album. The crowd loved it and by the fourth song, ‘Rearrange’, they were taking over bits of the chorus, led by Miles himself.  Latest single ‘Better Than That’ went down a storm as did ‘What Condition Am I In’ while ‘Darkness In Our Hearts’ had the whole venue singing along.

He rattled through a mixture of other songs from his two studio albums, before diving into ‘Give Up’. Personally, it’s one of my favourite songs of his and it sounds even better live. It’s a proper sing along guitar anthem (although to be fair that’s the description of pretty much all his songs). What made this version even better though was the surprise that was waiting for us halfway through. He managed to seamlessly slip in a very good cover of The Rolling Stones’ ‘Sympathy for the Devil’ before reverting back to his own song.

‘Inhaler’, an old favourite, was very well received before he closed the set with ‘Don’t Forget Who You Are’. Not only is the song ferociously catchy, but it was also the cue for further mass crowd participation with “La La La, La La La La La La” still being sung for a while after he had departed the stage. This was replaced with a chant of “Miles, Miles, Miles…”. As he returned to the stage with just himself and an acoustic guitar the crowd chanted “Miles, Miles give us a wave”. He duly did which received a huge cheer.

He then played ‘Colour of the Trap’ before his band mates returned to the stage themselves for the final song of the night, ‘Come Closer’. It’s a real crowd favourite and he had the whole place singing along. He is a great showman and knows exactly how to get the most out of the crowd. In fact “Ahhh, Woahhh” could still be heard as people were filing out the doors.  

“I couldn’t have wished for a better start to the tour,” Miles commented during the gig. Pretty much says it all.

Thanks for reading J