Kaiser Chiefs are responsible for some of the most lauded Britpop anthems of the past few years, dating all the way back to 2007 and their critically acclaimed debut Employment. So when the ever-growing Groovin’ the Moo festival rope the popular UK band into headlining their biggest line-up yet, you can be sure you can be sure excitement spread quickly.

As a sideshow to their much-talked about GTM performance, Kaiser Chiefs descended upon Sydney’s latest live music hub, The Hi-Fi (which has ridiculously sticky floors). The venue quickly filled up for second support band Deep Sea Arcade.

The Sydney five-piece were an absolute pleasure to listen to. Not too many bands can successfully incorporate the sounds of classic acts like Oasis and The Beatles but Deep Sea Arcade manage to pull it off without insulting the genre. Already a big name on the local scene, these boys are more than ready to take on the music world and win.

Right on time, Ricky Waters and the rest of the Kaiser Chiefs were given a larger-than-life introduction via Dire Straits’ ‘Money for Nothing’ and a pretty lavish light show. ‘Na Na Na Na Naa’ served as the set opener and was met with complete rapture. This was followed by ‘Everything Is Average Nowadays’ and one of their more recent singles ‘Kinda Girl You Are,’ which fit quite well with their older, more popular material.

It was obvious to Kaiser Chiefs were aware of the fans adoration for their older material, hence the set was largely occupied by Employment and Yours Truly, Angry Mob. It seemed their newer material wasn’t too popular amongst fans, something which hard to understand because in a live setting their latest stuff sounds pretty damn impressive. In fact, there was no filler in the set, Ricky Waters grabbing and maintaining our attention from start to finish.

Every review of a Kaiser Chiefs show always praises the energy and excitement that Rick Waters throws around stage, this was of course no exception. Waters jumped off stage, strolled through the crowd to the bar, and ordered a shot of whiskey before hanging from the ceiling for a rowdy performance of ‘Take My Temperature.’

Upcoming album Souvenir was given a nice preview with ‘On The Run’ and ‘Listen To Your Head,’ the latter rounding out the main set before the two-song encore of ‘Love’s Not a Competition But I’m Winning’ and the ubiquitous ‘Oh My God.’ However, the night undeniably belonged to their two most reliable party-starters, ‘I Predict a Riot’ and ‘Ruby.’

Kaiser Chief’s left no room for improvement, balancing a crowd-pleasing, greatest hits set with a showcase for their new material and it was undoubtedly the finest I’ve seen the guys play.