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Friday, March 23, 2012

Kasabian @ Terminal 5 NYC 3/22/12





They've have finally returned to America! That's where Episode 66 of the Jay Porks Never Ending Concert Series kicks off, bringing us to Terminal 5 in New York City to see the one and onlyKasabian. This is a special night for all of us fans out there who've waited for this band to return to the United States. Facebook groups have been started, Twitter accounts have been created, all in efforts to get this band back to U.S. Soil for the first time in 5 years. So when a tour was announce a few months ago, there was no question that I was on my way here tonight. I kinda feel bad for my man Reverend Justito, because he turned me on to this band and I'm getting to check them out live before him on this tour. It's alright, he get's them at Coachella and an LA date that week-PLUS, he and the rest of the world get to watch this concert stream live online. YouTube in conjunction with the Bowery Presents have made it possible for tonight's proceedings inside the epic Terminal 5 to be broadcast around the world. The event is sold out so without tickets I hope you all are getting ready to do it up Couch Tour style, as I try to coax my coworker to let me leave work early, so I can get that sweet spot on the 3rd floor left of the stage I love so much. Doors are at 7, show at 8. I want to be on that line at 5:30. This night is too important to have some hipster from Williamsburg standing in my favorite spot. Maybe I'm over playing this, maybe I'm not. Only one way to find out......



So I arrived at the line at 5:23.. That's right I said line- I guess 2 and a half hours was not early enough to land me 1st on line. At 6 they opened the doors and shuffled all of us upstairs to the rooftop smoke deck-stairs leading to a 2nd deck actually.. Benches, bathrooms, a bar. Hell there's even a video screen if people wanna watch the show from up here. Anyway, they roped off the rest of the place, and now everyone formed a line up here in hopes of snagging their favorite spot up front. 3 different people asked me whats the best spot in this place-I gave them 3 different answers.

So at 7 when all of us were let in, the mad dash began. People must not read enough of my reviews: if you're going to a show a Terminal 5 I don't understand why you wouldn't head upstairs to get a nice railing spot on the 2nd or 3rd floor.. I mean I'm looking directly down at the stage, unless you're one of those 1st 20 or so people who gets a front railing spot the 1st floor is pointless. Anyway, I'm overlooking the stage from the 3rd floor. Not only a perfect view but a chair ALONG with an ottoman. So with my feet up in total relax-mode, time to wait for Hacienda, the opening act listed to go on at 8PM..


Promptly, Hacienda came on at 8. 4 man piece, with a keyboardist, they hail from San Antonio and have been on this entire U.S. tour supporting Kasabian. They bassist and guitar player switched off vocal duties-it was almost like 2 different bands depending on who was singing which song. They weren't bad, the guitar player had some filthy licks when the song called for it. The 45 minutes flew by. They were off by 8:45..

You can feel the anticipation building as the stage was set up, all the camera were checked, more tweets hashtagged Terminal 5 were being tweeted. At 9:10 I'm thinking to myself "Wow this is gonna be freaking CRAZY!"



At about 9:20, out came the main event: KASABIAN. And they came out with a thunderous "Days are Forgotten" followed by "Shoot The Runner". I was mesmerized. For once in my life I can say I was around when New York City decided to get into good bands- the building was literally shaking. A crowd that was frozen still during Hacienda's opening set was jumping around, slamming into each other. Everyone in unison just making the most of every single second they had in the building with this band. It was awesome.


Now all good comes with bad, right? You would think so-but that was surely not case here at Terminal 5. After "Underdog" was the 4th song in, I pretty much thought I was done with the songs I liked. I knew they had "Re-Wired" on previous set lists, so I waited. But as I did they played more amazing songs that I found myself to really be enjoying while taping, I mean more so than I would have. "Thick as Thieves" was the only jam tonight to have the acoustic guitar involved, and that's the point where you look around and think to yourself-this is way better than advertised!


Then I remember we're being live streamed on YouTube- the whole world is inside Terminal 5 tonight. Did you see us rocking that place out? Hell, even my hidden spot on the 3rd floor got packed with people standing on chairs trying to see over us along the railing. So I guess that "showing up late to avoid the opener" plan backfired. Sucks to be you-but if you Bump me again, and my elbow meets your chest.

"Re-Wired" eventually came, but before that it was "Club Foot" (isn't that song in a commercial? I'm too familiar with it for it not to be). I want to say this about every song, but the house was seriously about to come down during Club Foot. It just seemed to get louder and louder in there as the night went on. "Man of Simple Pleasures" and "LSF" were played towards the end of their set before the encore. The place got increasingly louder with screams while we waited for the band to come back out.





“Switchblade Smiles” was absolutely insane when they kicked off the encore with it. The colors-their light show is really cool the way it bounces off the walls of the tight, yet roomy Terminal 5. This was the perfect venue to have them perform, and they put on a flawless set that left everyone in the place trying to regather themselves outside; trying to comprehend the epicness they have just witnessed. I don't think there's anybody in the world who thought this show would be so... so... well 'Perfect' is the only word that comes to mind. . Ended their flawless evening of tearing down Terminal 5 with a 7+ minute version of “Fire”. Incredible.


I've seen some shows, but this is like top 5 in “Live up to the hype”. I mean I've heard the band on record and I enjoy them. But live, it's a whole different experience. So much energy, so much ferociousness, and most importantly, having so much damn fun on stage. In five years when they come back to America(Let's hope it's not that long!), you can already book it that it'll be on the Jay Porks Concert Calender..


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