Leicester band Kasabian have today confirmed a huge homecoming show to coincide with the 10 year anniversary of their debut album.
They will play in front of 35,000 fans at Leicester’s Victoria Park on 21 June. Tickets will cost £39.50 and go on sale this Friday (29 November) at 9am.
Speaking to the Leicester Mercury, guitarist Serge Pizzorno said:
It feels like it was just meant to be. It’s going to be the 10-year anniversary of the first album, so it feels right. It feels like we’ve been building up to this since the start. We’re so excited. Hopefully the whole city will come alive.
He went on to say he hoped the gig will inspire local kids:
We really want to do something to inspire the next generation of kids. If you’re a kid and you see a band from down the road play a big gig in your city. I hope that’s inspiring. We had to travel round the country to see the bands we liked when we were young, so it’s great to be able to do this.
Bassist Chris Edwards said of the gig:
We have done shows in Leicester, but the closest big gigs we’ve been able to do have been in Nottingham. This is what we’ve always wanted to do – put on something of this scale in Leicester. Though we’ve wanted to do it for ages, it’s kind of good we didn’t do it for our second or third album. Now, we’ll have five albums’ worth to choose from. It’s going to be amazing. And, hopefully, it might be the start of more bands doing things at Vicky Park.
The announcement won’t come as too much of a surprise to music fans in Leicester (of which I am one!) as there has been Live Nation planning notices up in Victoria Park for the past month or so. Andy Copping of Live Nation said it has been his ‘dream’ to put on a homecoming show for Kasabian, saying:
Having worked with Kasabian from the very early days, it has been my dream to stage a really big homecoming show for them. The band are very proud of Leicester and this means more to them then any other show they have ever played. I really hope the people of Leicester will get behind this event and celebrate the success of one of their own.
Kasabian are currently busy recording a new album, the follow-up to 2011 album Velociraptor!. The plan is to have the album out in time for the Victoria Park gig, but we’ll just have to wait and see about that.
