Friday 12th December 2014

Casino Empire at The Cookie

by Keith Jobey

Friday night saw Casino Empire headline the Cookie Jar for the third time this year. A year that has seen the band storm Leicester. A year that closes with the release of their debut single, physical copies of which were being handed out to the capacity crowd on the night.

Support for the night comes from The Harrowbrooks.  A well chosen band with similar influences as Casino Empire and who also have a rock and roll swagger. They’re an accomplished band with some good songs like
This Could Be My Ecstasy. They get the crowd moving and manage to hold their attention as the excitement builds for the main act.

When you get compared to Kasabian then why not take it a stage further and use a projected countdown prior to coming on stage. That’s how Casino Empire chose to kick off their show tonight. I’m guessing 10:03 is what
it should have started counting down from, since that is the length of  the debut single. It didn’t matter that it was a shorter time. All that did matter was that by the time the clock approached zero, the crowd were chanting the band’s name and counting down the seconds, eager for what was about to happen.

It started with the familiar intro and Bray Road Beast. We also got Igauna, Ain’t Coming Back, Shine On, Can’t Be Mine, all great songs that feel like we’ve known them for years already. There’s was a new song Fading Away,
a mid paced number which I’m sure will only require a few more airings before the crowd are singing along to this one too. She Loves, the debut single was obviously used to close the show.

There has been a lot of coverage of this band and not only on this website, but it is well deserved coverage. Yes they play fairly typical rock (like Kasabian, Oasis, the Rolling Stones) but like those predecessors their songs are catchy, have singalong lines and are delivered so well and with such assuredness.

It’s hard to believe that this band only appeared on the scene this year. Yet here they are, selling out the venue, mosh pits, crowd surfing and people singing along.

2014 has been a good year for Casino Empire, 2015 looks set to be even better.

See also:

Feature article:  Elizabeth Cornish

That Was December – our round-up of the month