Earlier this year ‘The Kooks’ released their single ‘Down’ and news of a follow up to their 3rd album ‘Junk of the Heart’; the album is called ‘Listen’ and is out now. The new album appears to show the band heading in a new direction – whilst working on the album they worked with hip hop producer and performer ‘Inflo’. The Kooks headed out on a short jaunt in March to premiere their new material, playing intimate venues in Glasgow, London, Manchester and Birmingham, before hitting the festivals over summer, and finally a 13 date UK tour that began in November.
The 2nd date of the UK tour was in Manchester at the Academy 1, which seemed like the perfect size venue for an indie band like the Kooks who have been away for a while. The band came on stage to their latest single from ‘Listen’, the catchy and up tempo ‘Around Town’, which really got the crowd going.
The setlist was heavy on the new album as well as their first album ‘Inside In/Inside Out’, with just ‘Always Where I Need To Be’ from the album ‘Konk’, and the title track from ‘Junk of the Heart’. The band seemed slightly nervous when it came to playing new tracks, but after seeing them be incredibly well received by the crowd, the band seemed to relax and appeared to thoroughly enjoy playing them, especially the exhilarating ‘Westside’. The playing order was perfectly thought out, with a great mismatch of old then new, and so on.
A highlight of the night was lead singer Luke Pritchard taking to the stage alone for an acoustic performance of crowd favourite ‘Seaside’ from ‘Inside In/Inside Out’, before being joined by the rest of the band for new track ‘Dreams’. The ‘Seaside’ experience was like a campfire singalong and Luke’s vocals shon brightly.
The band left the stage after performing ‘Junk of the Heart’, returning to perform an encore of ‘Sweet Emotion’, the beautiful ‘See a Me Now’ which saw Luke and his haunting vocals sit at a piano, and last but not least, perhaps their most famous song to date, ‘Naive’.
The Kooks may have taken a new direction, but their new album and tour do anything but disappoint. They have gone in a new direction but they’ve produced a masterpiece with it, so here’s to the next album, whatever direction they take!
By Laura Dean – @modestlaura
