Indie rock at its most electrifying at the Tramshed
Miles Kane, Tramshed, Cardiff
ARGUABLY best-known for being one half of The Last Shadow Puppets alongside Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner, Miles Kane has been gigging with various bands since he was a teenager.
But more than 15 years since he first swaggered into the public eye, he played a blinder of a gig at Cardiff’s Tramshed on Friday, with all the verve and energy of a 17-year-old.
Shirtless and ecstatic, he gave a charismatic performance of a set-list brimming with short, sharp instant classics that couldn’t help but leave the audience wanting more.
With a smile as wide as the Mersey, the Birkenhead whirlwind got the crowd going from the off. Two riff-driven songs with thumping beats – Inhaler and Give Up – quickly turned up the temperature in the hot and sweaty confines of the Tramshed, on a day that had already been one of the year’s hottest.
This was indie rock at its most electrifying. On stage, Miles and his band consistently brought a fresh, energetic and thrashy energy to his back catalogue.
If you already like songs like the new album’s title track Coup de Grace and latest single Loaded (co-written with the unlikely partnership of Jamie T and Lana Del Rey), then you’ll love him live.
The scale of the adulation and loyalty he inspires in his fans was apparent in the many Kasabian-esque singalong moments, with Don’t Forget Who You Are being stretched out to double or even triple its recorded length... and yet never outstaying its welcome.
And there were surprises too – such as the indie-rock cover of the Donna Summer classic Hot Stuff. On paper it shouldn’t have worked, but it really did, inspiring a frenzied lager-spraying mosh in the tightly-packed venue.
By the time encore Come Closer, with its groovy ’70s-inflected bassline, ended, Miles exited the stage grinning as broadly as the audience. The crowd were left energised, baying for more and with even more of a lust for life than when this talented frontman took to the stage. ■ Hydref Williams