Miles Kane kicks off his UK Tour with a swaggering performance in Leeds.
Having released his 5th studio album, One Man Band, in the middle of last year, Miles Kane hits the road on a 2024 UK tour, kicking off in Leeds O2 Academy.
In all honesty, the critical reception to the album was pretty mixed, ranging between some who appreciated the lively indie rock, with others focusing more on the tracks that undoubtedly bear the hallmark of recent Alex Turner / Arctic Monkeys output – Ransom, for example.
That’s not enough to dampen the enthusiasm of the crowd in Leeds tonight though, braving the rain and cold as they queue around the venue eager to get in to warm up to some of those “zippy” indie anthems.
Wrexham’s Royston Club start things off for us though, and deliver an accomplished set, very much cementing the rising reputation the indie four-piece are developing, off the back of a successful festival season in 2023. They have an infectious energy, and inject some heat into the still-soggy crowd who have come down early. They have a good following of their own and the songs are sung back enthusiastically, with fans held aloft on the shoulders of others.
That crowd is relatively small for this venue, with room to move downstairs in the Academy, and the balcony closed completely. Nevertheless, it’s a warm and welcoming atmosphere waiting for Kane, as he leads out the band, swaggering on to the Academy stage.
Opening with the title track off the latest album, Kane and the band are quickly into their stride. It’s one of the standout tracks on the record, and it’s a smart way to kick off and get the Leeds crowd on side.
Kane oozes confidence, giving the impression that he is the master of all he surveys. He interacts only sporadically with the crowd. He’s clearly not one for conversation and connecting through chat. Instead, he lets his lyrics do the talking, along with the catchy, singalong hooks that are so readily reflected back to him. Inhaler sees Kane turn the lights up on the crowd as they chant “yeah, yeah, yeah” at the tops of their collective lungs.
7 of the 11 tracks from the latest record make an appearance in an 80 minute, 19-song set. The best of these were Never Taking Me Alive and closer Troubled Son, which was also the lead single from the album. Some of the others were overshadowed by more established crowd favourites.
Come Closer was a mutually satisfying performance, with Kane regularly smiling at the response this elicited from the crowd, hands in the air, plastic pint glasses launched overhead (although not very full – no-one’s got that kind of money any more!) Coup de Grace had a strong call and answer routine, in time with blinding strobes from the stage. And the final song of the main set – Don’t Forget Who You Are – gave the crowd an anthemic refrain to keep them going while the band briefly left the stage.
It was a night where everyone’s gone home happy – fun, singalong indie rock, with a posturing, pouting protagonist calling the shots. Will it be the best thing I see this year? Possibly not, but for an 80 minute rock n roll blast, this was a solid start to 2024.
Miles Kane tour continues, hitting Nottingham, Newcastle, Manchester, Glasgow and Birmingham before heading off into Europe.
Setlist:
One Man Band
Better Than That
Best Is Yet Yo Come
Silverscreen
Inhaler
Baggio
Nothing Ever Gonna Be
Rearrange
Telepathy
Killing The Joke
Colour Of The Trap
Heal
Cry On My Guitar
The Wonder
Come Closer
Never Taking Me Alive
Coup de Grace
Don’t Forget Who You Are
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Troubled Son
