I’ve always been slightly suspicious of The Kooks. Named after my favourite David Bowie song I always half expected them to be a lot more psychedelic rather than bubble gum indie pop. However the Brighton quintet have written some of the most instantly recognisable songs of the last few years and have sold CD’s by the truckload. Their debut album “In/Inside Out” was a huge success and went triple platinum in the UK alone. Their second album “Konk” which was released a couple of weeks ago also went straight to No.1 and looks like it will be equally as popular. The band are currently on a 45 date tour over 4 months and have sold out many of the shows including many of their US shows which is a very positive indication of their growing international appeal.
I picked up a copy of “Konk” a couple of weeks ago and was impressed in their progression of songwriting skills, it would appear that the the difficult second album posed no problems, and if the press is to be believed they had an impressive 80 songs to choose from. I have seen the band live on a couple of occasions and have always enjoyed their shows. Tonight’s gig was the first of two sold out nights at The Brixton Academy and Luke Pritchard had the confident swagger of success. The band opened with their latest single “Always where I need to be” which is a great singalong track which was followed by “She moves in her own way” the track which Pritchard wrote about his singer songwriter girlfriend Katie Melua. Overall it was an enjoyable gig and I would recommend checking them out over the summer.
Written by John Rahim