Kasabian performed at the Westport Bar in Dundee in 2004

It was hot, sweaty and very loud when Kasabian played a pub gig for 250 fans in Dundee in the midst of their rise to stardom.

The Leicester band announced a date at the Westport Bar on July 26 2004 when they toured the UK in support of their upcoming debut album.

The announcement was tucked away in a paragraph in The Courier when advance tickets went on sale costing £6 from Groucho’s in the Nethergate.

The Courier gig guide described Kasabian as “highly touted”.

They were.

Kasabian shot to fame in May 2004 when single Club Foot was released.

The famous intro became instantly recognisable and the single was a Top 20 hit.

Kasabian opened the Other Stage at Glastonbury and performed at T in the Park.

The two paragraphs in The Courier announcing the 2004 gig. — The two paragraphs in The Courier announcing the gig. Image: DC Thomson.

Then-Courier music writer Roddy Isles was expecting big things from Kasabian when he previewed the Westport Bar gig in his weekly column.

The band were Sergio Pizzorno, Tom Meighan, Ian Matthews and Chris Edwards.

“Music needs to be slammed in a microwave and put on 20,” singer Tom Meighan told Roddy before the gig.

“It’s crazy, all these bands who are famous but can’t play.

“We were lucky – we were all born with talent.”

The band were in confident mood in 2004

Roddy said the band had taken the unusual step of adopting an ominous looking masked character as their symbol.

“It’s better than having a picture of us, we’re ugly,” said Meighan.

Roddy thought Kasabian had massive self-belief and confidence, verging on arrogance.

He said they wanted to show the world how good they were.

Sergio Pizzorno of Kasabian playing guitar in 2004. Image: Shutterstock.

Roddy wrote: “The set will be short, but it’ll be powerful, all white noise and feedback and dirty rock ‘n’ roll.

“Kasabian, four guys from Leicester who are at the Westport Bar in Dundee on Monday, do it differently.

“Their promo single created such a buzz, copies of it ended up going for vast sums on internet auction site eBay.

“Record company BMG UK snapped them up and they crashed into the top 20 with hardly any exposure earlier this year with second single Club Foot.

“Since then they’ve opened at Glastonbury (attracting more fans than The Darkness on the same stage last year) and T in the Park.

“Their next single LSF (Lost Souls Forever) comes out next month followed by their debut eponymously-titled album in September.

“Then they’re off out on a headlining nationwide tour.”

Monday doesn’t sound like the best day of the week for a raise-the-roof gig but Kasabian delivered loud guitars and lots of attitude.

Meighan was strutting across the stage like a ringmaster.

Cometh the hour, cometh the mayhem

Roddy said there was nothing quite as good as catching a band on the rise, full of confidence and packing in crowds to small venues for chaotic scenes.

Kasabian ticked all these boxes.

It was one of the loudest gigs ever heard at the Westport Bar.

The Westport Bar hosted Kasabian upstairs in July 2004. Image: DC Thomson.

Roddy was among those who witnessed the impressive set.

He wrote: “A Monday night in Dundee, in mid-summer, with no student population to buck up the numbers, and yet the gig is sold out with a load more punters still looking for tickets, and there’s a queue to get in.

“If ever there were signs that a band is on the rise, these were the ones that confirmed Kasabian are shooting skywards.

“Their recent performance at T In The Park undoubtedly had an effect on this gig (as did the swell of home support attracted by local band Killer Angels) but the fact they filled the Westport Bar so convincingly on Monday night was impressive.

“Those who squeezed in were rewarded with a performance that showed why Kasabian are generating this kind of response.

“The word-of-mouth praise for their gigs, that’s been spreading across the country and the internet this year, is overwhelming, and this one will only continue that trend.

Former Courier Rocktalk writer Roddy Isles was at the Kasabian gig. — Former Courier Rocktalk writer Roddy Isles was there. Image: DC Thomson.

“It was hot, sweaty, and loud – very, very loud in fact, and if you were lucky enough to get down near the front, your ears are probably still buzzing.

“Everything a good gig should be then, and Kasabian lent it a pummelling soundtrack, their guitars and beats meshing together best on Processed Beats, forthcoming single LSF and the hit Club Foot.”

Meighan was like a young Mick Jagger

Roddy said the band had a lot going for them.

Kasabian performed on the Westport Bar stage in 2004. Image: DC Thomson.

He wrote: “Three of them are ugly, hairy blokes, but singer Tom Meighan has presence and a bit of a streak of the young Mick Jagger running through him, which is still the ideal template for a frontman.

“He will inspire adoration.

“Among the band’s heroes are The Who, and there’s a bit of them and The Small Faces in their demeanour and their music, only with added beats and flashes of electronica.

“This is still a step forward, if you remember that only a couple of years ago we were getting band after band who only sounded like The Small Faces with nothing added.

“There’s dozens of new bands coming through just now, and Kasabian look like they’ve got enough to outlast most.

“The debut album is out in September, which should give a clearer sense of their long term prospects.

“But right now they have a hold of the moment, and it’s genuinely exciting.”

Kasabian went from strength to strength after the Westport Bar gig. Image: Shutterstock.

Kasabian dropped on September 6 2004.

The self-titled debut studio album got to number four in the album chart.

It missed out on winning the Courier Rocktalk album of the year in 2004 in Roddy’s column with Franz Ferdinand stealing the honours.

Noel Gallagher from Oasis crowned them his favourite band.

Kasabian returned to Dundee in 2009

Second album Empire was released in August 2006 in the UK and went to number one.

Kasabian returned to these parts in July 2007.

The band headlined the Radio 1 Stage at T in the Park in Kinross.

West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum was released in June 2009 and featured songs which would become instant classics including Fire and Underdog.

The album also went to number one.

Kasabian returned to Dundee and performed at the Caird Hall in front of a sell-out crowd on the journey to headlining arenas and stadiums.

The concert opened with Underdog which sparked euphoric scenes.

Set highlights included Fire, Empire, Fast Fuse, Club Foot and Vlad the Impaler.

Kasabian in concert at the Caird Hall in 2009. Image: DC Thomson.

Kasabian performed a short cover of You Got The Love by Candi Staton before LSF wrapped up the performance and everyone was jumping up and down.

They headlined the main stage at T in the Park in 2010 and Velociraptor! became their third UK number one album in September 2011.

Caird Hall was followed by Glastonbury

Warm up shows at the Alhambra Theatre in Dunfermline and the Caird Hall took place before a performance at Radio 1’s Big Weekend in Glasgow in May 2014.

The crowd watching Kasabian at the Caird Hall in 2014. Image: Alan Richardson.

Things got better following the release of 48:13.

The meteoric rise was cemented with a headline show at Glastonbury.

Sixth studio album For Crying Out Loud followed in May 2017.

Meighan left the band in 2020 after pleading guilty to assaulting his girlfriend.

Pizzorno stepped up to become frontman to keep Kasabian moving forward.

What resulted was 2022’s The Alchemist’s Euphoria and Happenings in 2024 which brought knockout choruses and a return to headlining stadiums and festival fields.