I've spent most of my short life listening to The Kooks. Their Britpop / rock / hard to label sound won my heart when I was in Primary School. My favourite question to ask people is 'where were you when you first listened to this song' because they are moments you can't get back and hold a sort of nostalgia to but have no right to own. My first memory of The Kooks was sitting in the passenger seat of my Aunty's car as Naive blared through the speakers.
A decade on they are still my favourite band and now my Aunty sits in the passenger seat of my car as we go to see The Kooks play live. Goofing our way to town we nab a free park on a side road, walk to Vector and see a swarm of giggling tweens. Were they even born when The Kooks came out?
We sit in the stalls right in the centre, have the best view of the stage and eagerly await The Kooks. At one point they walk out into the crowd to watch the opening act. I had no idea. No one seemed to.
They opened with Around Town and dove straight into Ooh La which sent the crowd into a frenzy. Who knew they would play some of their best gems from previous albums?
They opened with Around Town and dove straight into Ooh La which sent the crowd into a frenzy. Who knew they would play some of their best gems from previous albums?
They continued to serenade the crowd with Luke Pritchard (who I've decided to marry by the way. He's only 7 years older and is taller than me. Thanks for the info wikipedia) leaping across the stage with energy to rival mine. Luke announces that they are going to play an old song from their first album; mumbles my thoughts on how the kids that filled the crowd were probably youngins when the song came out. "I mean we were young then, but you ...". She Move In Her Own Way echoes in the arena and everyone is united; dancing, singing, leaping and laughing.
The other band members begin to trickle off the stage while Pritchard lingers. He is handed an acoustic guitar. And my night is made as he strums the melody of Seaside, the opening track from Inside In / Inside Out. A swaying singalong commences and the energy that comes from a giant group connecting through music is insane. Its fun. His fingers move across the strings as he tries to coax them into playing Jackie Big Tits. "I haven't played this one in ages" he mumbles with a laugh and shrugs.
They unfailingly continue to charm the crowd and I realise that they are album perfect. More than that actually, they are better in concert than on their cd. They close with Naive. The whole crowd screams and serenades along with The Kooks. And I fall more madly in love with the band who already won my heart ten years ago.
FINAL THOUGHTS
As far as first dates go I think this one went incredibly well. It had me buzzing all night reliving memories through videos and photographs. Usually I'm not one for squishy squashy crowds and the mosh pit slightly terrifies me but maybe next time I'll get amongst it because that amount of people all loving the same thing is RAD. And the energy is amazing. If you want a killer first date pick their favourite band, buy tickets and go to the concert. You will have already won before the band is on stage and you'll both be smiling like a goof till 2am the next day.
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