Serge Pizzorno talks becoming Kasabian’s frontman, playing Knebworth ditching booze before gigs

10 June 2022, 16:46 | Updated: 10 June 2022, 17:07

Serge Pizzorno on being Kasabian's new frontman

The Kasabian rocker spoke to Chris Moyles about how it felt to support Liam Gallagher at Knebworth and revealed why he no longer drinks before shows.

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Serge Pizzorno spoke to The Chris Moyles Show this week a week on from Liam Gallagher's Knebworth gigs.

Kasabian were the warm up act for the Manchester rocker on 3rd and 4th of June and Serge admitted being a ball of nerves ahead of their set.

“This time last week was pacing round the hotel room like round the table. I couldn’t sit still. I texted Liam. He was like, ‘I’m on my bike doing wheelies’. I was like, ‘What’s going on?’”

He continued: “We got there about 5. Saw a bit of Paolo Nutini, which was good, because before we got there I’d only seen it back in the day (on) MTV, so I had no real idea what it was going to look like from the stage, so I thought I’d go see Paolo and it calmed me right down.”

Speaking of the impressive grounds where Oasis played their era-defining gigs, he added: “It’s massive, but it’s so big you can’t comprehend it in your brain. It’s hard to explain, but it’s almost like your brain gives up and goes, ‘Ah there’s too many people, just look at the front row and you’ll be fine'."

“So I watched him and I was like, ‘This is going to be great'.”

Listen to Liam Gallagher live at Knebworth 2022 on Radio X via Global Player

READ MORE: Kasabian announce 2022 UK Tour dates

When Chris congratulated him on is performance as the band’s frontman, he said: “Thank you," joking: "I woke up Keith Richards and went to bed Mick Jagger.”

“It was just insane," he added. "The whole day. Everything about it. It was a perfect weekend, because the weather stayed, the crowd was insane, Liam was on great form. Everything was just wonderful”.

When Pippa praised the red leopard print outfit he wore, he replied: “That’s my favourite bit about it. How much clothes you can buy. It’s great. You have to have a new outfit every night. This job’s amazing.”

Asked if he had a drink before he went on, he revealed: “It’s completely flipped on its head. It was scary. I could probably do half a pint of rum literally half an hour before we went on [...] but now I go on straight. I can’t have a drink, because lyrics go all over the place, so I’m straight as anything.”

He added: “So I’m sort of plugged in so hard to the energy of the crowd I mean it’s frightening, do you know what I mean? I’d imagine (it’s) as close as it would be to a heavyweight fight or something.”

Listen to Liam Gallagher live at Knebworth 2022 on Radio X via Global Player