00s indie rock band Kaiser Chiefs, behind hits such as Ruby and Never Miss A Beat, are celebrating their 20th anniversary by returning to where it all began – West Yorkshire hometown Leeds.
The chart-topping band – made up of lead singer Ricky Wilson, guitarist Andrew “Whitey” White, bassist Simon Rix, keyboardist Nick Baines and drummer Vijay Mistry – came to the fore in the early 2000s.
In 2005, Kaiser Chiefs dropped their debut studio album Employment, featuring classics such as I Predict A Riot and Oh My God.
To mark the 20th anniversary of the career-launching debut, they will return to home turf in May 2025 for their ‘biggest ever Leeds gig’ in a one-off special show at Temple Newsam Park – a venue they last performed at 23 years ago.
In an official statement, they said: ‘Last time we played there (in Parva) we joked we were on after Guns n Roses who had played the previous night so it’s been a long wait to finally actually headline the Park.
‘We are a band that historically always looked forwards but after 20 years of people telling us how important Employment is to them and how it soundtracked people’s lives, we felt we had to organise a celebration.’
The concert will see the band play the album in its entirety, as well as a selection of their other greatest hits over the years.
The statement continued: ‘We’ve managed to get a few of our old touring friends to come and celebrate with us and of course everyone is invited. Come celebrate the 2000s, Employment, When Leeds took over the World. See you all in May.’
As such they will be accompanied by a stacked line-up also celebrating 20 years since their own albums, including Razorlight’s Up All Night album, The Cribs New Fellas LP and We Are Scientists hit album With Love and Squalor.
Hot Wax, Ellur and The Coral will also be performing.
The 20th-anniversary show also marks a U-turn from the band, who told NME in 2019 that they didn’t want to follow in the footsteps of other bands and would maybe consider something special for the 25th anniversary.
In March this year, the Brit-award winning group released their latest tracklist, aptly named Kaiser Chiefs’ Easy Eighth Album. The album peaked at number six in the charts, proving the band has no intentions of slowing down.
Vocalist Ricky, 46, has also forged his own media personality since starring as a judge on The Voice for three seasons and coming second on The Masked Singer in 2023 as Phoenix.
Now the father-of-two is also a host of Virgin Radio’s weekday drivetime show.
In a recent interview with The Times, Ricky opened up about the expansive nature of Kaiser Chiefs’ appeal.
He said: ‘Very few bands have the breadth that Kaiser Chiefs do. We fit anywhere and everywhere.
How to get tickets for the Kaiser Chiefs anniversary show
Tickets for the Employment anniversary show on May 21, 2025, go on sale on October 11. More information on purchasing tickets is available here.
‘We can play a posh festival and a racecourse on the same weekend. We’re about to support Kasabian and we’ve just done a roller disco. Light entertainment? Don’t knock it.’
On the flipside, in another interview with the Independent, Ricky admitted that his sensitivity stopped the band from growing even bigger than it is today.
‘I wasn’t ready for a lot of it. Some stuff was quite hurtful. I think to be the biggest band in the world, you have to really not care about people not liking you,’ he said.
He continued: ‘That’s why we never really broke into that stadium territory because I cared too much about people not liking me. If you’ve got balls of steel, you just push on through.’
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