"IPod!" said Kasabian's Tom Meighan, teetering at the front of the stage. "God bless you, iPod!" After a moment, it dawned that, when a Leicester accent and a rock-star drawl are whisked together, "Hyde Park" becomes "iPod" - just one of several ways in which Kasabian charmed as they closed the park's four-day Wireless festival. It's not entirely clear how the rockadelic fourpiece came to be headlining in front of 15,000-odd people - not so long ago, they were playing "guerrilla gigs" for six people and a cat - but they proved themselves equal to it.

Despite their set being cut to 50 minutes because of the very late arrival of the supporting act, Pete Doherty, Kasabian established their readiness to ascend to the A-list. Unless the UK ends its 40-year love affair with the kind of guitar rock that's built from driving melodies and a having-it attitude, they are next in line for take-off.

There was a two-pronged attack here, involving, firstly, irresistible baggy funk that recalled Primal Scream and, secondly, a classic double act by Meighan and guitarist Sergio Pizzorno. The first incited boys in the crowd to surf on each other's shoulders; the second got the attention of the girls, who responded to this vaguely camp partnership as their mothers did to Mick and Keith. Meighan is blond and as wholesome as anyone can be when their job is drawling tunes that sound as if they had been written in an opium fug. He was flanked by the dark, slouchy Pizzorno, who played the surging guitar parts that give songs like Cutt Off their dizzy oomph.

It was complemented by a confidence that a newish group has no business possessing; everything, including the stark purple-green lasers, had presence. In a sense, they were lucky to be supported by Doherty, whose befuddlement ("Hyde Park, yeah?" he asked uncertainly) was guaranteed to make Kasabian look good - but I suspect that even old road-warriors like Oasis would have struggled to match Kasabian's cool assurance.