Tom Meighan continues to electrify O2 Academies across the country.
Stylish trendsetters with a natural energy that makes you want to get up and move around, Leicester’s Kasabian made waves throughout the course of two decades, and remain one of the biggest and most influential bands to grace the Britrock scene.
They are two-time Q Award winners for Best Act in the World Today – in 2010 and 2014. I first became fixated on the band in 2007 for their EP release, ‘Fast Fuse’. From there, it was a frequent occurrence I would hear them on the radio.
Hitting it big in the same era as the rise of the Arctic Monkeys, this brand of “indie rock” felt different, and indeed, they don’t exactly classify themselves as your typical indie rock band.
With reshuffles over the years and the release of eight albums, they maintain popularity with a diverse and wide fanbase – but when Tom Meighan sought after greener pasture in 2020, it sent shockwaves throughout the music industry. Through a period of personal and legal difficulties, Meighan withstood the test of time and the winds of change and went out to make a name for himself.
In 2023, Tom put out his debut album The Reckoning, which peaked at number 17 in the UK charts.
With his long history of peaks and valleys known to all, he arrived in the O2 Academy in Leeds on a cold Wednesday afternoon, over two months since his original date was cancelled. The reason was down to a throat surgery that sounds potentially tragic, though you wouldn’t know it by hearing him perform.
Supporting him on this night was Annabel Allum, an artist I was not aware of prior to rocking up. With grungy riffs and a diehard approach to her music, it made her an ideal candidate to warm the crowd up for Tom and his touring band. Her set was short and sweet, enough to make one yearn for a little more, a little longer. Isn’t that what the ideal support act is for?
As the O2 Academy began to fill up, the mood turned in the storied venue, one that had housed his former band surely multiple times. In a who’s-who catalogue of artists to rock the Academy in Leeds, Meighan brought his intense and pumping performance to the stage with little regard. All he wanted was to perform, and that he did.
It was well worth the two-month wait to see Meighan perform songs from The Reckoning, and with a couple of new tracks sprinkled in from their upcoming album Roadrunner (out in the New Year), we even got some of the hits that brought Kasabian to the global dance.
From Glastonbury to the O2 Academy – regardless of the venue, Meighan performed like there was no tomorrow. It makes one wonder what the future has in this reset of his career, which is more of a successful spinoff than a tough sequel to a hit series.
In the run-up to Roadrunner’s release on January 24, Tom Meighan continues to electrify O2 Academies across the country this December. Making up for lost time this past Autumn, it is a tour that should not be missed.
Visit TicketMaster to find out how you can catch them play – tickets are going fast!
Photography by Mark Wheelwright.
