Last Monday, Kaiser Chiefs were "training" with their heroes, Leeds United. From Tuesday to Thursday they were headlining their hometown's town hall. Gang of Four were famously photographed posing as Chinese cultural revolutionaries on the building's steps, but poor acoustics mean this venue can also be a rock band's graveyard. The Kaisers have somehow solved this problem and the second night of the three has the feel of an event, and the atmosphere of a football match.
There are comparisons to be made with Blur's gigs in the Parklife era. But while Damon Albarn's band subsequently veered off into weird, American-inspired directions, Kaiser Chiefs listened intently and have given Parklife's sound a Yorkshire accent. The crowd sing every word to songs like I Predict a Riot, knowing full well that tragi-comic lines like, "I tried to get to my taxi, a man in a track-suit attacked me" were born on streets just outside.
The Kaisers are a textbook example of how ability and sheer determination can take a band from obscurity to pop's upper echelons in next to no time. In his ill-fitting suit and tie, singer Ricky Wilson is a better anti-hero than ever, a cross between a rebellious schoolboy from Lindsay Anderson's If and a local housing inspector, armed with phrases like: "I tell thee!" The session with Leeds United presumably helped him with the physical demands of introducing the band while crowd surfing, and the entire million-selling Employment album is delivered breathlessly to scenes of pandemonium. At some point, they will have to plan a second album, but now is the time to revel in their moment.
· At Brixton Academy, London on Tuesday. Box office: 0870 771 2000. Then touring.
