Reviews round-up: Kaiser Chiefs take New York

They didn't do too much damage getting there, anyway. They had their equipment flown in by SilverJet, who at least make an attempt to be a carbon neutral airline.

They didn't make too much of a footprint in the city, either. The New York Times review wasn't entirely buzzing:

By contrast, Kaiser Chiefs just bounced along, by turns charming, glib and dully competent. In “Everything Is Average Nowadays,” Mr. Wilson plopped down on the lip of the stage just as he sang, “Everyone is sitting on the fence.” Through small gestures like this, he hopes to lure some more Americans off it.

The NME was a little more enthusiastic:

'Ruby', 'I Predict A Riot' and 'Everyday I Love You Less And Less' garnered an ecstatic response from the audience, as did several tracks from their recently released album, sang word-for-word by the 3,000 strong crowd.

Mind you, the NME is promoting the Kaisers' US tour.
The New York Post was taken with the band's energy, but found Ricky a bit too demanding:

He shouted "We are Kaiser Chiefs!" with Achtung-baby glee and Fatherland vehemence (even though the group is a Brit band from Leeds). "You must know the words to this one by now: Sing!"

Jeez, the boss is on your tail all day, door thugs swipe your gum as if it were Bazooka bin Laden, and a vocalist in a band - whose very name evokes iron fist authority - demands you sing.

Wilson finally got choir cooperation with the sold-out house on the song "Born To Be a Dancer," when the tune flipped from words to the barked and grunted "Oi, Oi, Oi's" of the chorus.

While it wasn't really singing, it was close. Still, Wilson should know, singing along at a concert is like kissing - when you have to ask, it doesn't count.

Lather. Rinse. Repeat was part of the singing back crowd, and she suggests it does count, actually:

It's amazing that when everyone was singing and shouting, when Ricky told us to get louder, we did. Even when he asked five times. You wouldn't think we'd have any voice left or be able to get any louder, but somehow the volume kept rising. When the people in front of you are that enthusiastic, you can't help but give it that extra push. I don't think a band can give the audience as much as the Kaiser Chiefs do without getting some of that energy back, so when they tell us to shout, we do!

Pitchfork supplies some gorgeous concert photography and observese the crowd:

Indeed, according to Pitchfork photographer Kathryn Yu, that mob was comprised primarily of girls, several of whom were zealously waving the red-and-white flag of England.