Playing out a festival is always an honour. It is even more notable when the venue is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. For the most part, the sun shined. The seldom drops of rain that fell were merely sea spray which failed to halt the perfect summertime ambience. Before the Kaiser Chiefs concluded Greenwich Summer Sounds, support band Dundee and Angus rock band The View opened the final night.
Whilst some classic live tracks like “Wasteland” did not make the setlist, The View put on an impressive warm-up show that was only possible by performing as a collective unit. There were no concerns that disputes such as those reported at The Deaf Institute in Manchester between frontman Kyle Falconer and bassist Kieran Webster. If anything, The View showed signs of maturity with broader Scottish accents and embracing their heritage in their more recent material.
Before the Kaiser Chiefs came on stage, screens went blank, and Dire Straits “Money for Nothing” played in the background. The Leeds indie band then opened with “Never Miss a Beat”. In the early to late noughties, memories were ignited amongst the audiences. This energy soared as the Kaiser Chiefs then played “Na Na Na Na Naa” from their 2005 debut LP Employment.
Whilst there was a touch of factiousness when Wilson mid-set said, “You didn’t come here for the old crap, but for the new stuff”, newer material beyond their first two albums, including an impressive cover of The Who’s “Pinball Wizard” made up almost fifty-per cent of the set. “People Know How to Love One Another” from Kaiser Chief’s 2019 Duck and the Chic inspired “How 2 Dance” particularly impressed me.
Apart from halcyon memories of the songs from Employment and Yours Truly, Angry Mob, the retro video game graphics visuals played a part too. Frontman Ricky Wilson also had a deft way of getting thousands of people to clap in time by saying “clap” followed by “separate” before playing “Modern Way”. “The Angry Mob” saw elation soar further, leaving the crowd demanding more as the band briefly left the stage for the encore. An extended version of “Oh My God”, which saw party poopers being released into the audience, perfectly concluded the set and the Greenwich Summer Sounds festival.
Ricky Wilson spoke for many established acts when he mentioned the challenges of getting audiences to embrace new material amongst the classics. The Kaiser Chiefs at Greenwich Summer Sounds made an impressive effort to get the audience to embrace their newer material whilst being loyal to the tracks that made them a household name and in a position to headline this festival. This challenge for established bands will not go away, but if they can find the right balance, they, too, like the Kaiser Chiefs, will be worthy of headlining Greenwich Summer Sounds in the future.
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