The Kooks took to St Kilda’s Palace Foreshore on Thursday night for the Melbourne show of their latest Australian tour. With upcoming album Never/Know coming out in early May, the tour is both a celebration of their most popular hits and a teaser of what’s to come.
What’s really enjoyable about the Kooks is the incredible lack of pretension from the band. They’re very much the same band I saw for the first time almost 20 years ago. While I’m sure they’ve changed as they grown, this hasn’t manifested into egos on stage or new personalities with every tour. They seemed genuinely humbled by the love from the crowd and excited to be there.
Luke Pritchard’s voice is perfection. Each tune is a faithful recreation of the album track, and while I thought a couple were a tad slower than they were originally recorded, the fact he sounds the exact same 20 years on from some of their biggest hits is incredible. Musically the band were tight and on form, they felt very much on the same page and played a fast paced, cohesive set.
It’s always interesting to see the early leg of tours as the band are still refining the set list, seeing what works and settling the new music into the rhythm of the familiar. The Kooks came out strong blasting through a lot of their hits in the first 20 minutes, including Ooh La, She Moves in Her Own Way and Bad Habit, before interspersing some slower songs and their new tracks into the set. Pritchard’s track, See Me Now, in memory of his father was a poignant moment in the show. There were several little solo snippets too throughout the night of just Luke and his guitar where it felt like he was just having fun with the crowd. It’s these little interludes which resonate and I hope parts like this remain as they fall into the regular rhythm of touring.
The new tracks fitted into the set list well, but I think peppering their most popular songs more gradually throughout the evening would have helped maintain a more consistent energy in the crowd. Probably my biggest criticism of the night was the length of the set. They played for less than an hour and a half. With 6 albums of music and a price tag of around $120 for a ticket, it was hard to not feel a tad short changed. Gig tickets aren’t cheap anymore and while they can’t do much about the rising costs in the industry, would it really have hurt them to play a little longer?
Overall, they are a strong, live band and it was an enjoyable evening but I was definitely left wanting more.