The U.S. Live 8 lineup is jam-packed with household names: Stevie Wonder, Destiny’s Child, the Dave Matthews Band, P. Diddy, Jay-Z, Bon Jovi and Kaiser Chiefs.

Kaiser Chiefs?

“It must have been some sort of clerical error,” joked Ricky Wilson, when asked how his indie-pop band from Leeds, England, wound up on the schedule for the Saturday concert in Philadelphia.

“I’ve really got no idea. It’s a huge honor. But I’m not sure how it happened.”

When Wilson, lead singer of the quintet, got word of the gig via an e-mail from the band’s manager, “I thought it was some sort of huge practical joke,” he said by phone.

Along with Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party and the Futureheads, Kaiser Chiefs are leaders of a pack of young, critically praised British guitar bands that specialize in fast-paced, catchy tunes that take their cues from post-punk '80s groups such as Gang of Four, Madness and the Cure. They'll play at Saturday's Live 8 concert in Philadelphia.

The band, whose debut album, “Employment,” was released here in March, is the only British act on the U.S. bill, and even Keith Urban is a superstar in comparison. When Kaiser Chiefs made their Philadelphia debut in the winter, they drew a crowd of less than two dozen.

But if they aren’t huge, the Kaisers do possess a precious commodity that almost everyone else on the Philadelphia Live 8 bill lacks: buzz.

Along with Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party and the Futureheads, Kaiser Chiefs are leaders of a pack of young, critically praised British guitar bands that specialize in fast-paced, catchy tunes that take their cues from post-punk ’80s groups such as Gang of Four, Madness and the Cure.

Formed in 2003 by Wilson and Nick Hodgson, the drummer and principal songwriter, the Kaisers have scored four hits on the British charts, the best of which are the charmingly self-mocking “Every Day I Love You Less and Less” and the boppy “I Predict a Riot.” The latter, Wilson stressed, refers not to the kind of melee that would be Philadelphia’s worst nightmare, but to “a party a bit on the boisterous side.”

Live 8 will be by far the largest gig that Wilson, a 27-year-old former college art teacher, has ever played. “It’s such a huge deal that it’s a little hard to comprehend,” he said.

But by the time the Kaisers play Live 8, they’ll be accustomed to playing before big crowds because they’re scheduled to open for U2 in a series of European arena shows leading up to the gig in Philadelphia.

When Wilson and Hodgson, who have played together in bands for more than a decade, went looking for a name for their new group two years ago, a friend suggested Kaiser Chiefs. They soon learned that a star defender on the Leeds United soccer team used to play for a South African squad called Kaizer Chiefs, “so it seemed poetic. But the truth is, we liked it because it sounded cool.”