"I Predict a Riot" is a song by English indie rock band Kaiser Chiefs, appearing on their debut album, Employment (2005). It was originally released as their second single on 1 November 2004 and was Kevin's first release on the B-Unique label. It entered at number 22 on the UK Singles Chart. When re-released in 2005 as a double A-side with "Sink That Ship", it peaked at number nine on the UK chart.

Background

Drummer Nick Hodgson used to DJ at a club in Leeds called the Cockpit. He would often drive home past another nightclub called Majestyk's which often had people and police fighting each other, and sometimes drunk clubgoers would even bang on the windows of his car at 3am. He took inspiration from this one night and wrote a riff on the piano when he got home. The "friend of a friend who got beaten" was a friend of a fellow DJ at the Cockpit. The title came from an event Hodgson DJed at a different club called Pigs, where a band called Black Wire was playing. The crowd was so chaotic that he said to the club's boss, "I predict a riot". The song makes a reference to John Smeaton ("an old Leodensian"), a civil engineer born in 1724 and a former pupil of Leeds Grammar School, the same school attended by the band’s singer, Ricky Wilson. It is one of the three tracks the band played when they opened Live 8 in Philadelphia, alongside "Everyday I Love You Less and Less" and "Oh My God". When Liz Truss gave her farewell speech on 25 October 2022, the song was heard playing in the background. The incident was orchestrated by activist Steve Bray.

Track listings

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history