The line for The Kooks’ Adelaide show had already curved around the old theatre venue by the time the doors opened at 7pm. The atmosphere was heavy with teenage anticipation for this Brighton band, fresh from their Groovin’ The Moo performances.
Whether they were paying for frontman Luke Pritchard’s English charm, for the effortless fun and untiring fervor of the bands act, or even just for a chance to see the exuberantly poppy “Naïve” live, there was a tangible excitement that stuck throughout the night.
Glass Towers opened the night, and played to the quickly filling sold out room. With their cleaned-up gritty sound, this support was a perfect complement to the main act. However, the clarity of their sound experienced a slight lack in the live setting.
Vocalist Benjamin Hannam’s vocals reached for too-high heights, and fell flatly against the few politely attentive listeners in the prattling crowd. Still, to the untrained ear, these lethargic declines in vocal quality were virtually unnoticeable. The sleek composure with which each musician presented themselves was a stimulant to the predominantly female spectators.
Channeling the aesthetics of the greasers from The Outsiders, with their denim jackets and dark sleeked-back hair, this four-piece local act ravaged the crowd with a reverberating drumbeat that covered, and then collapsed under the percussions within their songs.
As tensions were soaring, with excitement for The Kooks racing through the onlookers, the four artists strutted comfortably into view. The obvious ease in their composure was met with deafening squeals and a surge of bodies toward the stage. The fact that they hadn’t released anything since 2011 was overlooked by the unwavering affections of the howling fans.
Pritchard’s flirtations reached a peak during “Do You Wanna”, a confidently cocky smile crawling across his face, as he playfully crooned to the gasping crowd “I know you wanna make love to me”. Followed by the sentiment, “it’s hot, you can take your clothes off”, Pritchard slurred his English accent across the fawning audience.
Jumping along the stage, standing on any slight elevations he could find along the way, Pritchard was unashamedly entertaining to watch. Calling across the hall to the seated section a number of times throughout the set, his presence demanded the complete involvement of the entire venue.
A comfortable mix of tracks spanning their three-album repertoire was met with a constant flow of crowd surfers and validations of the audiences’ apparent undying adoration for the musicians. Beginning with the thumping and upbeat “Always Where I Need to be”, the enthusiastic caliber of their show was formed, and following with the comparatively mellow “Ooh La”, this indien-rock/pop band fell into a happy bombast.
Obvious favourites throughout their set were the sweetly romance-driven “She Moves In Her Own Way”, both “Sway” and “Shine On” from 2008s Konk, the acoustic murmur of “Seaside”, the endorphin-inducing “Junk Of The Heart (Happy)” and, of course, the adolescent universality of “Naïve”. All of which were welcomed with a raucous enthusiasm and wild dance moves from the jiving masses.
The Kooks have never been a boundary-pushing band. Their music clings to the mainstream, with catchy hooks and poppy percussions, solely serving the purpose of entertainment. Without ambiguity, their songs have no deeper meaning to them than what is found on the surface and as long as nothing more is expected from them, they are thoroughly enjoyable and fun to watch.
The inexhaustibility of their show, tied with the tightness of their set, shows The Kooks in extremely good form. Whether they’re in a festival setting or an indoor, bounded venue, they are consistently exhilarating performers to see live. If you’re a fan of their new music or not, their riveting stage presence calls for the crowds undivided attention, and receives this from their devoted supporters willingly and with complete readiness.
