We predict a riot! Kaiser Chiefs head to Wolverhampton Racecourse

The gig is planned following the success of the race course’s Ladies Day 2017, which prompted organisers to bring it back bigger and better.

Fans are promised sell-out crowds, fabulous all-weather racing and a live performance from the Kaiser Chiefs. The Kaiser Chiefs will perform on an outdoor stage after a fantastic full-card afternoon of racing.

Their first album sold more than three million copies and the band have won three Brit Awards, an NME award and were also shortlisted for The Mercury Prize. Fans can look forward to such hits as I Predict a Riot, The Angry Mob and number one single Ruby.

Frontman Ricky Wilson helped form the band 18 years ago – and hasn’t grown tired of it.

“It’s not like we have a particularly stressful job. It’s just writing songs and recording them. It’s nice to have a few days at the weekend to let your hair down and play a gig or two. Not only that but you get a dressing room with loads of free beer.”

The band are between albums, having released Stay Together in 2016. In addition to band commitments, Ricky has also filled his time with TV work, including a judging role on The Voice. He’d go back if ever a role arose.

“Of course yeah, it’s so much fun. The first time I did it I made no bones about the fact I was doing it to sell a record. I had real faith in it and the way to do that was by being on TV.

“You can’t guarantee that you’re going to get to play on the end of Graham Norton because there are a lot of people fighting over those spots. That’s why I did it first time and I enjoyed it.

“I went back two more times to do the Voice. I’d definitely do something like that again.”

Guitarist Andrew White says the shows can be more like a regular tour show than a traditional open-air festival gig.

“It’s more like a tour than it is a festival I think because obviously when you play at a festival there’s loads and loads and loads of bands and loads of things going on and this is only us basically, supported by some horseracing! So we just sort of try and put on a good show for everybody really. At the end of the day everyone’s had a good time, hopefully they’ve won some money and they’ve got drunk so then we just try and put on a good show to sort of end it all off really. Play some hits, get everyone there bouncing and loosening their ties and kicking off their high heels.”

Given the band’s success over the years, one problematic issue is choosing their set list. There are songs from six albums to choose from and making sure they don’t miss any of the crowd’s favourites can be tricky.

Andrew adds: “I sort of, generally write the set list and I think it sort of writes itself, really. There’s songs that everybody wants to hear and then we’ll play some new songs from the new record and then we’ll try and dig out a couple of things that maybe are a bit unusual which I think keeps us interested and some of the people who come see us a lot obviously will be there as well so we play a little bit of that but y’know, just try and . . . As you say, we’ve got quite a lot of songs that everyone knows so it makes it quite easy.”

The Kaiser Chiefs formed in 2000 when Ricky Wilson, Andrew White, Simon Rix and Nick Baines were inspired by new wave and punk tunes. Their debut album Employment came out in 2005 and went six times platinum.

The quartet had a solid friendship on which to build the group, having all attended St. Mary’s Catholic High School, Menston, West Yorkshire, where they were in the same class. They took their name from South African football club Kaizer Chiefs, the first club of ex-Leeds United captain Lucas Radebe, and never looked back.