The sun had long since set on day one of Connect as thousands gathered on the Duke’s lawn at Inverarary Castle.

The biggest crowd of the weekend, yup it topped those whipper-snappers Glasvegas, were gearing up to see Kasabian chalk up another fantastic festival closer to their burgeoning collection of been there, done it, nailed the set and entertained the masses.
But this was probably as hard as the Leicester boys have found it for quite some time, in the weeks, days and minutes leading up to their performance there were all kind of complaints pointed in their direction.

Rock by numbers, music for laddish lager louts many naysayers whispered on the lawn, blanketing their faces from the baying mob awaiting their heroes with the thick cover of darkness.

Those who like their sonic treats to come in neat and tidy packages with gentle handclapping and foot tapping even dared to say it out aloud - “Kasabian are the wrong band for Connect!” Fortunately, nobody had told Tom Meighan as he strode onstage with the same swagger that has been wowing crowds through two albums of anthems.

Two fingers were well and truly thrust in the direction of every man or woman who doubted whether or not they belonged at a “boutique festival.” Arriving onstage with a foppish flower adorning his waistcoat, opener Shoot the Runner sounded as raunchy as ever, forcing the haters to instantly unfurl their folded arms and forget their frowns. Within a matter of minutes, murmurs of discontent were transformed into one of those magical festival moments where row open row of music fan, rises as one in celebration of an array of anthems.

Even new material Fast Fuse and Fire, which build and grind through each verse into an epic sermon-like chorus as all Kasabian classics do, are greeted with absolute delirium and the same faces who moment before condemned Kasabian’s very existence, let alone their appearance at Connect, were soon abandoning their cool and streaming down the hill, singing the words to songs they apparently didn’t even know. And having won the hearts and minds of many, there was a little something new for their loyal following with a rave classic dropped in during their three song encore.

After delivering pounding versions of the bass heavy Club Foot and Stuntman, Serge took lead vocals and the familiar opening riff of the classic You Got The Love by The Source featuring Candi Staton kicked in. It got some cheers and some spontaneous singing but it merely served as an opener to the band's traditional set closer, LSF with its sing-a-long chorus worthy of gracing any festival stage.

Once again, Kasabian came, saw and well and truly conquered.