Miles Kane at Dingwalls

Miles Kane, ex of The Rascals and The Last Shadow Puppets, plays Camden as a warm-up before a support slot with The Stone Roses. He’s just released his second solo record and is on a whirlwind promotional tour, seemingly successful thus far as the album is at number five in the midweek chart. Here he’s welcomed as the returning king, the lost son of Britpop who will fill the gap until the return of the Gallagher brothers.

The atmosphere in Dingwalls is more akin to a football terrace, the crowd singing along word-perfectly to Oasis’ (What’s the Story) Morning Glory before the band come on stage. The football chants of “Miles! Miles! Miles!” that greet his entrance are only a precursor to the mayhem that ensues when the first chords are struck. The venue erupts, and it doesn’t simmer down until the last note. New material and old are greeted equally wildly, and B-sides and album tracks are sung along to with increased intensity by a well-lubricated Friday night audience. My Fantasy and Inhaler create a mosh pit of the likes not much seen since the rule of the guitar kings in the early 90s.

The material from the new album is stronger than that from the debut, and it has a belligerent potency in performance that is possibly lacking in the studio versions. However, it all blends in together a little too comfortably. Despite the catchiness of Give Up and Don’t Forget Who You Are it’s all a little too repetitive, though the best of the material and performance conjures up images of The Who in their mid-60s Goldhawk Social Club days. The band is feeding off an astonishingly exuberant crowd, and the powerhouse playing is strongly redolent of that of their heroes. Get the material up to scratch, and Kane may soon become worthy of the adulation he’s received this evening.

Geoff Maguire
Photos: Charlotte Bruning

For further information and future events visit Miles Kane’s website here.

Watch the video for Don’t Forget Who You Are here: