Kasabian Fans Like And Share

The first time I’ve ever listened to Kasabian was on the radio (on RED FM 96.3 I think). I was instanly impressed with their sound, it was so special and unique… That’s why I started digging on them, more songs and videos, until I reached a point when I finally understood what Kasabian really means! Until recently, I thought that I was the only Kasabian fan in Greece (lol)! Whenever I mentioned to someone something about Kasabian (people of my age usually), they didn’t know the band, or they just knew a couple of songs – that’s all. Moreover, there was nowhere a web page for the Greek Kasabian fans, I even thought I should create one. But you’ve made it, firstly on Kasabianlive.com, and then on Facebook. You can’t imagine how happy I felt when I first realised your ‘existence’, I think it was on a link on the ‘Arctic Monkeys Greece’ page on Facebook. I said to myself: “Well, finally, there are Greek Kasabian fans, and they are extremely dedicated as well, they were very well hidden though”. Of course, the peak of my happiness took place when Kasabian played live in Greece a couple of weeks ago. I think that it was one of the best live performances I’ve ever watched in my life, and I swear to myself that if Kasabian don’t come back in Greece again next year, I will travel abroad to see them live once more. Finally, I would like to say that thanks to Kasabian I met some incredible people, and by that I mean you guys, and I would like to thank you all for creating all these Kasabian pages and groups.

Nothing special.

It’s been a little bit more than three years that I’m a fan of Kasabian. I heard “Underdog” on the Greek radio for the first time and I was totally surprised and amazed at the same time. I felt like I had to search for them on the internet and I did. I wasn’t into Indie/Psychedelic Rock music back at the time, so it was new for me. Like all of my favourite bands, I spent a week listening to every song of theirs and decided that I’m in love! It sounds a bit weird but I feel like they are one of the bands that you’ll either get stuck with or hate them.
I find them unique and inspirational. I admire the fact that as individuals they are the type of people that listen to all genres of music and I think that’s obvious when you get to listen to their stuff. Each song is pretty much different from the others and makes you recall all kinds of things, but in the end when you see it as a journey that their music takes you on, it all makes sense because it’s a perfect outcome. I also love the confidence they have. They know that they make good music and they do not hesitate to say it. I don’t find it arrogant, as many have said over the years, but a sign of confidence and professionalism.
And at some point in my life, came the moment when I would finally see them live! I know that they are incredible live. I’ve spent hours on youtube and I’ve read numerous reviews on the internet, so I was preparing myself for the best gig of my life. And it was even better than I thought it would be. Being on the first row, feeling the energy, knowing every single line to their songs, dancing, bouncing, watching them have fun with each other, is priceless! Almost two weeks after, I still can’t find the words to describe it. They are indeed the best live act in the world and I’m not just saying that!
It’s hard for me to just pick a favourite song. I can hardly pick a favourite album! Each one is different, but in a good way. And that’s one of the greatest things about them, I think. Being experimental doesn’t always work with every band, but with them, it seems that everything is just fine! I believe that this comes from the fact that they are not strictly a rock band, but they’ve always had something electronic in their sound.
They have something that makes them look different next to other bands of their generation and that’s what makes them special for me. You can’t easily say that they sound like some other band and I love that. As I said before, they are unique and that’s one of the main reasons they are one of my favourite bands. I can only hope for the best for them and I know that they still have got a lot to give to music and their fans. And I’m ready to travel abroad to see them live many times, because once is not enough!

It was the first day of 2010. I woke up suddenly and awkwardly early, after the New year’s eve hangover, and something led me to visit the official site of kasabian on the internet. And there it was: the announcement of their 2010 tour. I started screaming! They were going to be in Milan the same period that I was going to be there for a business trip. My wife woke up startled by my screams, thinking that something bad had happened… It took me a while to catch my breath and explain to her the present that Santa Claus gave me!
None of my colleagues and acquaintances in Milan were interested in accompanying me to the concert, so I ended up, at the first concert of my life abroad, all alone. But that wasn’t going to last for long. Filled with confidence and beers from a nearby pub, without over thinking it, I went in the frontline, in order to have the best possible view to my dream coming true! During the concert I met a lot of Italians, who quickly understood I was a foreigner, due to my strange accent and I immediately felt no more alone. No need to say that the concert was amazing, unbelievable, awesome! Unfortunately, the large amount of beers I had consumed, obliged me to visit the men’s room… and when I came back, my new friends had disappeared.
I came back to Greece with a great experience in my luggage mixed with some sorrow, cause I never had the chance to exchange contacts with Michele and the other guys.
Time went by and one dull day at work my mate George and I suddenly decided to travel to Bologna for the I Day festival, to see our two favorite bands (Kasabian and Arctic Monkeys) performing on the same stage. George managed to overcome just for this once his terror of flying and after a 9 hour delay followed by a big adventure, we finally arrived at Bologna as the dawn was cracking the day of the concert. At the Malpensa airport we had met the guys from the Basement. That was meant to be the beginning of a friendship that lasts till today.
I couldn’t keep my hopes of finding anyone up, when I saw the crowd of 35.000 people attending the festival. And as the fever went up and the beers were flowing, awaiting for the kasabians to appear, somebody stumbled on us. He stood up and I recognized my friend Michele, the one I had lost in the crowd in Milan more than a year ago! It’s so true that music brings us together and these days will never be forgotten!

Thank you for the chance to tell my story. Great job mate!!!

Well, I had heard some Kasabian’s songs and really like them, but I had never really been interested in that band since the new years eve of 2012. Yes, that’s right. A Greek TV channel was going to broadcast a Kasabian’s live that day and I’m glad that I stayed in that night and had the chance to watch it! Well this live show was amazing and made me wanna search on this band. I started listening to them and really liked their music and was looking forward to being at a live show like the one I’d seen on TV. Time was passing and suddenly one day I heard about the Ejekt festival and guess what(!?!) “pa-ram-pa-ram” KASABIAN was the headiners. Yes KASABIAN were coming to Greece and I f****n’ felt it coming. I was gonna see them live! Everything about that concert went strangely well for me and the day was finally there. I arrived at the venue really early so as to go to the front line … and I did it! I was right there at the front line catching the baluster and not let it go. The day was big and finished with the most perfect way. “Aaaah a-a-a-aah” and KASABIAN got on stage, my head and heart both ready to explode and me ready to,–’GET LOOSE’– , lose my mind. There are no words to describe the feelings, the energy, everything about that night; it was just perfect. From the beginning we felt that the night would be special. Every single song had its moment and there came the time of ‘Goodbye kiss’. Singing the song and being lost in the moment , creating hearts with my hands, when suddenly Tom sang “rock n’ roll sent us insane..” and… sent me insane by closing his eye to me and showing his heart (unforgettable moment). Crazy things continued to happen and the whole crowd were on fire. Slowly the night was going to an end and there came in my hands a Kasabian setlist and a pick to fulfill one of the most incredible nights of my life. One thing is for sure, this day won’t be forgotten and my anticipation for another Kasabian concert is getting already bigger and bigger! Till then their songs will keep me company !!!

The first time I heard about Kasabian was by a friend of mine, who is also one of the founding members of The Basement. It was in this blog, where I first listened to and loved their songs. Since then, I’m absolutely stuck with Kasabian, and I don’t think that this ‘fixation’ will ever change! Thank you Nick, Thank you all guys in the Basement Team!!!

For me, it all started on the 27th of June of 2009. I was watching the UK chart on TV, ‘Fire’ was on #1 position. I found a piece of paper to write down the song, I was really impressed with the band’s name, but even more with the album title. The next day, I downloaded the track… A couple of weeks later I saw on the TV again the videos of ‘Underdog’ and ‘Vlad The Impaler’. I didn’t really like them back then (now I am absolutely in love with both of them), and that’s why I didn’t dig further on Kasabian . Fall of 2011, ‘Days Are Forgotten’ was on the airplay of almost all Greek radio stations on a daily basis, but I still wasn’t paying much attention on the Leicester band. I recognised though that the song was great. However, on the 23rd of November I listened to ‘Re-Wired’ on the radio, and I said to myself ‘These guys are finally great!’. I downloaded all their singles… ‘Underdog’ helped me out to get through a difficult situation I was into, and day after day Kasabian’s music was growing into me more and more. On the 30th of Janury, I watched on TV their 2009 live performance on ‘The Dublin O2 Arena’ and became really convinced that Kasabian are an absolutely amazing band. A few days later I downloaded their whole discography and I totally fell in love with all their songs. One month later, it was announced that Kasabian would be the headliners of the Ejekt Festival here in Greece! Time was passing and I was getting eager and eager and very creative as well (see Kasabian graffiti etc. on Kasabian live…). At last the Big Day was there -27/6/2012- one of the most beautiful days of my life so far. I had a wonderful time, I enjoyed every single second of the Kasabian’s performance! What I saw and heard was amazingly awesome and really special. I’m also very happy because I met some really extraordinary Kasabian fans. This day will never be forgotten, Kasabian sent me insane… Thank you Kasabian!!!

My first ever Kasabian experience was the ‘Empire’ official video, which I’d seen some years ago on the TV. I was absolutely amazed by the song (and the video itself). Straight after that, I began to search more on Kasabian, and soon I found myself absolutely stuck with them.

So many Kasabian stories in my life, can’t choose a particular one…Sorry.

Before Ejekt Festival: Well, I certainly liked and enjoyed the music of Kasabian. Didn’t need to dig on them, I am a ‘Basement tenant’, and as you can understand I was able to know every single song of them, even every B-side and rarity. I had concluded that Kasabian are a good indie band…

After Ejekt Festival: Of course, I wouldn’t miss their live performance in Athens. I was there and I was really amazed with Kasabian. Now, I don’t just like and enjoy their music, now I’m totally in love with them! Moreover, I can’t stand anyone making negative comments about my ‘buddies’. For instance, right after their Athens gig, some people said that Kasabian have a high opinion of themselves and act in an arrogant manner. I would like to answer that “Yes! they are proper rock stars, and I absolutely love them when they cross the line sometimes”.

By now, I have too many memories somehow related to Kasabian and definitely the best ones are the three times the “Basement Team” watched them live. Especially the first two in Italy were the best times I ever had in a concert, ever. But since these stories are the same for all of us, there you go:
It was in February of 2005 that I decided to make my first trip to England. It was a big deal for me because most of my favorite bands and musicians are bloody Britons!
The second day I woke up quite fresh and energetic with no particular plans, but to have a nice breakfast and then follow the girls while shopping. (ok I got a very nice Kasabian t-shirt that day, but in general I was following or outside smoking). I decided to surf the channels on the “telly” to get an idea of what the English are watching. So I’ve only had ⅓ of my coffee and “Club Foot” is on some music channel, maybe Mtv. I didn’t pay much attention at first but then comes the electric guitar with a mean bass underneath…! I was in cultural shock! I asked everyone not to talk and turned up the volume. The feelings were massive, it was the first song of the day and my mind was clear and very receptive.
In simple words it appears that in this sound I found everything I was looking for in music.
A somehow eccentric voice with a heavy English accent (my favourite); a kind of voice that obviously is not the outcome of endless hours of singing lessons, but due to natural talent can perform extremely well, becoming quite psychedelic but still clear, sharp and extremely addictive the more you listen to it.
A melody that is timeless. A super-skilled drummer that you notice immediately, but does not get on your nerves trying to “cover” the others. Heavy guitars and baseline that come and go before it becomes tiring, a second guitar that adds a spacey atmosphere with a flair or psychedelia, but not the kind that makes you want to lay down and have a nap, the one that makes you want to grab life by the throat in a creative way. [;)]
It was most certainly the best thing I’ve heard in a long time, having made a break from the “rock” genre to “jazz / soul”, I had certainly subconsciously missed listening to Nirvana or The Smashing Pumpkins and doing all kinds of crazy stuff. My mind was full of “ooooz aah aaaah ah” from this moment on. I kept humming it during the whole day… seriously. I did it during the rest of our breakfast, our way to the subway, in the subway, while walking to the stores and so on.
Every time I actually did anything, there was always a steady soundtrack in the background of me humming “ooooozz! aah aaaaah ah!”.
And now in 2012 I tell you, do believe the hype! Kasabian are extraordinary!

I’ve already written about 2.500 words about Kasabian! Enough is enough with this band!
The Basement Goes To Bologna!!!
Kasabian-Quake Hits Greece 27/6/2012

Scene 1 – Fall 2004
I was in the bus returning home from job, when Ι stumbled upon a girl, who used to be a very close friend of mine, but for some reason we had lost each other, Antigoni. She was sitting at the back side of the bus, while I was standing at the front. When she saw me, she started walking towards me waving into her hand a CD, the cover of which portrayed something that reminded me of a Middle East veil. “You have to listen to this!”, she said not bothering to say first “hi! how are you?” etc. “Hmmm…Kasabian. Okay, Antigoni, I’ll check it out”, I answered, but she then said “You can check it out now!”. Oh yes, she had a discman with her as well (for younger readers, a discman is the heroic predecessor of an MP3 player). I put on the headphones and pressed the ‘Play’ button. ‘Club Foot’ was there of course, waiting for me to change my life. I was lost in ‘Processed Beats’, when Antigoni poked me saying “I have to get off, my stop is here, how did you like them?”. “They’re good Antigoni, they are very good”, I answered not bothering to say “Goodbye, we have to meet sometime” etc…

Scene 2 – Summer 2007
Me, my brother (Savrabasement), and three other very close friends of us had cooked up the perfect summer plan: 23-27 of August we would be in a Greek island, Serifos, with no girlfriends, no wives, no nothing… And straight from there we would set off for Malakasa Terra Vibe, where on the 29th our all time favourites Smashing Pumpkins would perform along with our new heroes Kasabian, who would visit Greece for the first time. Unfortunately, everything went wrong… We had an almost awful time in Serifos, one friend lost his front tooth (Buttle Off, are you there?), while another one suffered an unexpected ulcer crisis (!). The winds in the island blew like tornado, the sea was absolutely appalling, with huge waves whispering in our ears “Go to the pool”. Okay, it was a nightmare, but we still had our ultimate gig to eagerly await for. However, a huge fire was burning Attiki, Athens was in red alert, and more than twenty people had lost their lives… Obviously, the event was cancelled. I still feel really embarrassed of my initial childish response, which was like “What the fuck? Why? So what? We’re missing Smashing Pumpkins and Kasabian because of a fucking fire???”. Shame on me.

Scene 3 – 18 June, 2009
In the morning of that day I had bought ‘West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum’ and had listened to it two-three times, when Mammoth called me to remind me that it was time we should depart for the Ejekt Festival. I quickly dressed myself and grabbed the album, so we could hear it in the car. We did so… We both couldn’t believe what Kasabian had created! It was a pure a masterpiece! I was like “Let’s hear again ‘Thick As Thieves’! No, no! Let’s hear ‘Underdog’ again. Oh man! I’m finally going for ‘Fast Fuse’. What do you think? Choose yourself, Nick, I’m out of my mind!”. We finally reached the venue, we were watching White Lies, Starsailor, Editors and Pixies, but my mind was travelling to Kasabian and their new superb album. I couldn’t stop thinking of the moment we would get back in the car and push the ‘Play’ button. Well, the moment came, my situation had become worse because of the alcohol consumption during the gig. I was calling my brother, I was calling ‘Buttle Off’ 2 o’clock in the morning saying “Listen man! Listen of what they’ve done!”. The next morning I woke up singing ‘Thick As Thieves’. Klaxons would appear οn the second day of Ejekt, so I was relieved that my mind would finally find peace from the ‘West Ryder’ obsession for at least two hours…

Scene 4 – Winter 2009-2010
I was watching the ‘West Ryder’ Bonus DVD. It came Doberman’s turn, performed live from the Union Chapel (The Little Noise Sessions). Suddenly, as I was watching and singing, a respectable amount of tears came out of my eyes. “Fuck! I want and I must see them live!”. A couple o weeks later my brother found the way to make my dream come true: Milan, 18 February 2010, ‘Alcatraz’. Me and my wife Claire, Savrabasement, Mammoth, Buttle Off, Petros, and Maria (aka Old Mary). We arrived at the hotel and we had only time for a quick shower and a scotch, which was served to us in a plastic glass (our accommodation choice was unbelievable!). No time for dinner, just a slice of pizza that we ate on the road with all the juicy hot toppings felling on the pavement (the Italians were watching us full of question), and there we were in the superb cosy ‘Alcatraz’. Fanis was also there, but we didn’t know each other yet. It was the first time I watched Kasabian performing live. It was like a dream (next afternoon I was in my office working!). ‘Doberman’ was on the setlist, and of course a respectable amount of tears came out of my eyes.

Scene 5 – 2 & 3 September, 2011
Basement’s second Kasabian crusade took place 1 1/2 year later. Kasabian would share the same stage with Arctic Monkeys (Dear God!) at the ‘I-Day Festival’ in Bologna, Italy. Me, Savrabasement, Mammoth, Buttle Off, Panaba, and Old Mary (our heroic female!). You can have an idea of our new adventures from Savrabasement (previously), and from Panaba (next). I only want to say that outside the Milan airport, while smoking the traditional after-flight cigarette, we met a Greek guy who had traveled to Italy for the same reasons as we did, and his name was Fanis. We chatted about Monkeys and Kasabian, and then we said that we should meet at the venue the following day. That unfortunately never happened, but music would make it up for us one year later. And one last thing about those two days, there was a cab driver who took us from our (first) hotel in Milan to the railway station… We were all somehow drunk in his minivan, we asked him to put our music in his CD Player, he kindly accepted that, he switched up the volume, and he finally put up with six ‘loco’ Greeks screaming into his (at least) 65-year-old ears “La La La… La La La La La” (and that would be Miles Kane’s ‘Kingcrawler’). The whole Basement Team would like to thank that old man…

Scene 6 – 27 June, 2012
Well, in this scene I was supposed to write my recent Ejekt Festival Kasabian experience, but it seems that there’s no need to do so… We were all together down there, and we all know what exactly happened: Kasabian proved once again that they are one of the best live acts in the world right now; and we experienced the whole thing together, the Greek Kasabian Fan Club. I can’t tell you how happy we feel here in the ‘Basement’ about this, I hope you saw it in our eyes when we met each other (some of us). Thank you all guys, ‘Without You, I’m Nothing’!

Have you guys heard about the time I got lost in the crowd during a Kasabian concert? It all went down last September, in Bologna, Italy.
I think most of you know that the Basement crew had traveled to Bologna for a Kasabian & Arctic Monkeys gig. After going through hell to reach our destination (you can read all about it here), we were finally at the venue, but we had to wait for a couple hours till Kasabian would hit the stage. We weren’t that much into the supporting acts (The Wombats / White Lies) so we decided to sit on a small hill that was facing the stage and wait for Kasabian to show their faces, before we go down and mingle with the rest of the crowd. So, there we were, sitting under the sun and sippin’ on booze; probably too much booze in too short of a time. By the time the supporting acts were done, I was smashed . We only had a few minutes before Kasabian would start their act and it was at that point that I had the bright idea to go to the toilet. I didn’t go on my own, a friend wanted to go too, so we both went and said to meet right outside the toilets once we were done. I didn’t have my cell on me (I had left it at the hotel coz I was scared I ‘d lose it), so she gave me hers so I wouldn’t end up without a phone in case we lost each other and I needed to get a hold of the rest of the guys to tell me where they were. Surprise, surprise, I managed to lose her! Don’t ask me how, I really don’t know. Remember, I was smashed . I think I just wandered off on my own without even realizing it and my friend prolly thought I had left her when she didn’t see me at our meeting point outside the toilets, so she went on to find the rest of us. She was lucky, I was not.
I walked back to the point where we were just moments before I had left for the toilet, but noone was there. It was dark because the sun had set and I couldn’t see shit, let alone make out t-shirt colors and whatnot so I could recognize my friends. Thank god my friend had given me her phone! Not! I was so smashed that I couldn’t get it to unlock!! I was trying for a good five minutes, but to no avail; it looked like alien technology to me. So I started going up to random Italian folks, telling em that I ‘d lost my friends and I needed to use their phone to call em and find out where they were. I can’t speak Italian to save my own life and Italians aren’t known for their good knowledge of English, but I think god pitied me because the people I talked to could make sense of what I was saying.
It was at that point that Kasabian came on stage and started their act. Everyone was like ‘aww yeah!!’, I was like ‘aww shiiit!’. The show had started and I wasn’t with my friends and to top that, it was so noisy that I could hear fuck all when I was calling them. I think that in my efforts to find them I must have used the cell phones of at least ten people, maybe even more, because Mammoths’ phone was flooded with missed calls and texts from random Italian numbers. I was getting a bit depressed, but not too much, thanks to the alcohol that was in me. After 10 minutes of failing miserably in trying to reach my friends, I suddenly remembered that there was a tent that was set very close to the main stage and that would serve as a meeting point in case somebody got lost from the pack. So, I entered the tent and after a couple of minutes, there he was, my savior, my knight in shining armor, Mammoth! I felt so relieved when I saw him. He yelled at me, ‘where are you, you jackoff!’, but his words were music to my ears. We exited the tent and went to meet the rest of the crew. I had missed 3 songs, maybe 4, but I could care less. I was with my friends again, ready to raise hell. And boy did we create a ruckus!