No disrespect to The Kooks, but I honestly had no idea how popular they really were. I really enjoyed their first album, Inside In/Inside Out, but always assumed that was the peak of their fame.
Turns out I was wrong. The Palais was packed to the rafters with their legion of fans. Even more interesting was that while the girls screamed and danced, it was their jocky, metrosexual boyfriends who took photos and sang along word-for-word. The Kooks definitely have a segmented market.
They opened with a bunch of songs from that first album, including Ooh La, Sofa Song and one of the most popular, She Moves In Her Own Way. These four lads from Brighton, England are still quite young but they have the talent and stage presence of experienced performers, especially front man Luke Pritchard. For such a gawky and awkward looking dude, he appears to thrive in a room of screaming fans and confidently prances on stage like he’s Mick Jagger or Julian Casablancas.
Pritchard switched between around four or five guitars throughout the set, even swapping instruments mid-song on some occasions. For a solo version of Seaside, he stood alone with an acoustic guitar and asked the crowd to sing along “Koombaya style”.
The Kooks didn’t play just their big hits though, sneaking in a couple of rarities for the “true fans”. Guitarist Hugh Harris stepped up on vocals for No Longer, which unfortunately fell flat, and later they played The Saboteur, which could be described as experimental rock’n’roll.
There were a couple of favourites from the other two albums, including Shine On, Always Where I Need to Be, Runaway and they finished the set with Do You Wanna.
The anticipated encore chants began almost instantly as the band walked off stage and they soon returned with Junk of the Heart, the title track from their latest album, and followed with Naive, which produced a deafening roar from the crowd.
If I had to describe this gig in one word: refined. Every aspect of this show, from lighting, the set list, the set up and sound, was impressive. The Kooks are not your average pop band, and that’s a good thing.
BY CHRIS BRIGHT
LOVED: The dude at the front who was more emotional than his girlfriend.
HATED: The single light that kept blinding me.
DRANK: Nothing. Getting over a cold.
