Live: The Kooks

8^th November

Academy 1

7/10

The Kooks have made a comeback after a three year break with their new album Listen, released last September, which debuted at no.16 on the UK Albums Chart. Despite being in the music industry for 13 years, they haven’t seemed to have aged at all.

The opening act Walking on Cars, however, are relatively fresh faced on the scene starting in 2010. Their songs were very upbeat, reminiscent to what I would have listened to in my teen angst days, but with a very cinematic quality. They played songs off their new EP Hand in Hand and ended their set with their top single, ‘Catch Me If You Can’ which went to no.1 in the iTunes chart in 2012.

The Kooks were then signaled on stage with their name in big letters projected on stage. The graphics throughout the performance were quite impressive, changing with every song with images like a fox, old school television sets, the union jack and London phone boxes (keeping with the 1960s British Invasion influence) as well as live projections of them on stage with various effects. They started off with well-known oldies like ‘See the World’ and ‘Ooh La’ from their first album Inside in/Inside out then integrated songs from their new album Listen  like ‘Bad Habit’ and ‘Down’ which had stellar guitar riffs. Lead singer Luke Pritchard did a few solos for their slower songs from their first album on the acoustic guitar with ‘Seaside’ and on the piano with ‘See Me Now’. The best track from their new album has got to be ‘Sweet Emotion’. They finished off with more of their original songs like ‘She Moves In Her Own Way’, ‘Always Where I Need To Be’ and ended with the tune that made them a household name, ‘Naïve’.

Luke Pritchard’s vocals throughout were on point, mixed in with his own attempt at Mick Jagger-like dance moves. The crowd, however, was a tad rowdy throughout the performance, throwing drinks and brollies in the air which not only put a damper on the evening, but also my hair which stank of cider by the end of the night.