On Friday 13th February, 2026, I paid my first visit to Bradford Live, on the site of the former Odeon cinema in the City of Bradford, to see Kaiser Chiefs.
It was the second occasion seeing them perform live having attended one of their previous gigs in Manchester in 2008. This tour was to mark the twentieth anniversary of the release of their “Employment” album and was given the name “More Employment”.
I met my friends Chris and Lesley before the gig in a local establishment. It was also Chris who accompanied me to the aforementioned event in 2008.
Support on the evening was provided by the Manchester based pop-rock band Corella. I had not heard of them prior to the event however, I was quite impressed with them and will be seeking out more of their material to discover how good they actually are.
Because this tour was based around their debut album, the Chiefs chose to start the show by playing it in full, in track order. This meant that the show opened with “Every day I Love You Less and Less” followed by “I Predict a Riot” often seen as their signature song. I didn’t mind this as they have plenty of other hit songs however, those less familiar with their back catalogue may have been disappointed that these were played so early in the piece. In my opinion a gig should build to a crescendo. Thankfully they closed the show with “The Angry Mob” which I feel is a suitable way to end any Kaiser Chiefs concert. When you factor in that they also played the storming “Ruby” third to last and prior to that, fan favourite, “Hole in My Soul” many people’s fears were probably allayed.
Most of the best songs on “Employment” appear early on the album. As well as the tracks I have already mentioned, we got “Modern Way” third followed by “Na Na Na Na Naa”. Throw in “Oh My God” sixth and, one of my personal highlights, “Born to Be a Dancer” next and all was well with the world!
After they had finished playing the thirteen tracks from the album, they took brief respite before starting the eight-song encore with an interesting cover of the Ramones track “Blitzkrieg Bop”. Because of the Chiefs style of music this fit in well in my opinion.
They followed this up with the rousing “Never Miss a Beat” and they even had time to fit in a “Happy Birthday” to their guitar technician Shippo.
Lead vocalist Ricky Wilson is a charismatic frontman and his energy always seems to add a little something to a live show. The band as a whole don’t seem to have lost any of their enthusiasm for touring and it showed on this occasion.
On a separate note, the venue is fantastic and will be a great addition to the music scene in the North of England. I would certainly recommend a visit should an act you like appear there.
I give the band a rating of four out of five stars for the gig and also recommend going to see them if you like their music, you won’t be disappointed, I’m sure.
