Kasabian

Saracuse, and a name taken from a court transcript

The band formed in Leicester in 1997 under the name Saracuse, with Tom Meighan on vocals, Sergio Pizzorno and Chris Karloff on guitars and Chris Edwards on bass. The name they settled on came from Linda Kasabian, the driver who turned prosecution witness at the Manson trial. Ian Matthews joined on drums in 2004, the year the self-titled debut arrived and reached number four on the UK albums chart. 'L.S.F.' peaked at ten, 'Cutt Off' at eight; both are still in the set two decades on.

'Empire' followed in 2006 and went to number one, the first of eight. Karloff left the same year over what the band described as artistic and creative differences, which left Pizzorno as sole writer — a role he has kept ever since. 'West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum' (2009) produced 'Fire', which reached number three and stayed on the chart for 34 weeks, and remains the song they finish on. The Brit Award for Best British Group came in 2010; the Pyramid Stage headline slot at Glastonbury in 2014.

'Velociraptor!' (2011), '48:13' (2014) and 'For Crying Out Loud' (2017) all entered at number one. By the end of that run Kasabian were a fixture of the British festival bill rather than a band with anything left to prove on paper.

The singer left and the writer stepped forward

In July 2020 Meighan left the band following assault allegations. Pizzorno, who had written the material throughout, took over lead vocals — a shift that could have ended the group and instead reset it. Tim Carter, who had played guitar on tour for years, became a full member in 2021.

The rebuilt line-up has not lost commercial ground. 'The Alchemist's Euphoria' (2022) and 'Happenings' (2024) both went straight in at number one, the latter their seventh chart-topping album. The current four-piece is Pizzorno, Carter, Edwards and Matthews, with Rob Harvey — formerly of Leeds band The Music — playing with them on the road.

Pizzorno has been open about what drives the work now. Talking to NME in April 2026 he framed self-doubt as useful rather than corrosive, saying being out of one's depth is preferable because playing it safe is 'not the one'.

Act III: 33 minutes, thirteen tracks, number one

'Act III' was released on 4 September 2026 through Sony Music. It runs 32 minutes and 52 seconds across thirteen tracks, three of which are short instrumental interludes ('Quiet on Set Please 1m9', 'Mind Palace 2m7' and 'Npc 3m12'). Pizzorno produced it with Mark Ralph, who also mixed; Matt Colton mastered.

The singles came out over almost a year: 'Hippie Sunshine' on 22 September 2025, 'Great Pretender' on 2 April 2026, 'Superpowers' on 26 June 2026 with a video featuring Stephen Graham, and the title track of the December tour, 'Nothing Better Than This', on 14 August 2026. The album went to number one in the UK and number three in Scotland, making it the band's eighth UK chart-topper and their eighth in a row since 'Empire' in 2006.

Pizzorno has described the record as the closing panel of a triptych that began with 'The Alchemist's Euphoria' and continued with 'Happenings' — in his words, the last six years as a mini opera of sorts, with the third act where everything comes together. He also told NME the album is 'all the things that we've done in the past' pulled into one place.

Reviews have picked up on how far it leans away from the guitar-and-shout template. The Upcoming called it an experimental, disco-led outing, singling out the bass hook on 'Hippie Sunshine', the synth-and-R&B rhythm of 'Superpowers' and 'Nothing Better Than This' as the strongest thing on it, while suggesting the closer 'Say You (Closer)' is too sweet to land. Clash noted a renewed appetite for experimentation and an album that draws on the back catalogue without getting stuck in it. The dissent, where it exists, is about resolution: for a record billed as a final act, some critics found little in the way of climax.

Where they stand in September 2026

The summer did more for their standing than the album did. On 4 July 2026 Kasabian headlined Finsbury Park in London to roughly 45,000 people, their largest London headline audience. The bill underneath them ran Louis Dunford, SOFY, The K's, Miles Kane and Razorlight. It was a long day, and reviewers noted the cost: by the time the headliners came on, some of the crowd's energy had gone, and a section of the park began drifting out before the last song.

On 27 August 2026 they opened Leeds Festival as the first Thursday-night headliner in the festival's history, christening the rebuilt main stage, now named The Grid, after Reading and Leeds overhauled their arenas for the year. They had topped the bill at the festival twice before, in 2012 and 2017. Heavy rain hit Bramham Park earlier in the day and a thunderstorm was forecast; the set stayed dry throughout. 'Thursday night, Leeds Festival for the very first time — this is history,' Pizzorno told the crowd, adding that the audience had 'been so good to us over the years'.

Ahead of that, the December arena run was announced in July 2026 — artist pre-sale on 15 July, general sale on 17 July through Ticketmaster.

The set as it runs now

The current show is built around a fixed spine that has barely moved between the park and the festival field. It opens with 'Club Foot' and runs through 'Call', 'Hippie Sunshine', 'Underdog', 'Days Are Forgotten', 'Shoot the Runner', 'Empire', 'You're in Love With a Psycho', 'Coming Back to Me Good', 'Stevie', 'Superpowers', 'Treat', 'Vlad the Impaler' and 'Release the Pressure' before 'L.S.F.' closes the main set. The encore is three songs: 'Ill Ray (The King)', 'Bless This Acid House' and 'Fire'.

New material has been rationed. At Finsbury Park only two songs from 'Act III' were played, 'Hippie Sunshine' and 'Superpowers', with the rest of the night given to the catalogue — 'Italian Horror' and 'Goodbye Kiss' in the slots Leeds later gave to 'The Doberman' and 'Nothing Better Than This'. Both shows padded transitions with dance records rather than guitar intros: snatches of Justice vs Simian, The Prodigy, Faithless and Kendrick Lamar have been used as segues.

Length varies with the slot. The Finsbury Park headline ran from 8.40pm to 10.30pm, close to an hour and 50 minutes. Leeds was a tighter 90 minutes, played across the runway extension on The Grid, with Harvey given a introduction as a local returning home. Support at Leeds came from Arkayla and The Lathums.

December: five arenas, The Vaccines opening

The 'Nothing Better Than This' tour takes in five indoor dates: Utilita Arena Birmingham on 11 December, the OVO Hydro in Glasgow on 13 December, Utilita Arena Cardiff on 16 December, The O2 in London on 18 December and Co-op Live in Manchester on 19 December. The Vaccines open every night.

Pizzorno has been explicit about what he is chasing in an arena. Speaking at the Brit Awards on 28 February 2026, he said he had recently seen Oasis, Radiohead and Fred Again.. and that all three were magnificent for different reasons — a fair description of where the current show sits, somewhere between a singalong, a lighting rig and a dance set. On the summer run he put it more bluntly: the plan was to give people what they want, and treat it as an excuse to go insane.

Expect the December shows to sit close to the festival template, with a longer indoor set and more room for 'Act III' material than the 20-minute allowance the album got at Finsbury Park.