AS THE crowd gently simmered in the heat of Southampton Guildhall, Kasabian bounded on to the stage and really turned up the heat, launching into Underdog with the sort of fervour and determination we know and love them for.

The Leicestershire lads are often overlooked in favour of their mates the Gallagher brothers and are somewhat harshly underrated by the music press.

But their latest release West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum has really made people sit up and listen.

Set opener Underdog was a massive wall of sound and is sure to be up there with LSF and Clubfoot as a Kasabian cult classic.

This gig was part of a run of warm-up shows for their next big tour later this year, and fresh from their massive festival-style gigs with Oasis, Kasabian are clearly still running on the buzz and energy of that mini-tour.

Tom Meighan was loving the crowd and took every opportunity to interact and gave us mere mortals the chance to sing some of his greatest hits straight back to him.

All the old favourites were there but this was really a showcase for the new material, and recent single Fire really set the place, well, on fire!

Where Did All the Love Go? is a brilliant tune which shows a different side to Kasabian, putting a Marc Bolan-esque twist on their trademark guitar-driven sound.

Now, with their third album under their belt, Kasabian have really proved themselves as a true British band to be proud of, with the lyrical and musical skills to rival the best of them.