As I entered the side door of Rams Head Live in Baltimore to watch The Kooks perform Saturday, I was quite honestly void of any expectations. Despite recently dropping their latest album Let’s Go Sunshine in 2018 to mixed reviews, the Brighton-based band found their biggest success during a slightly earlier time in indie music — notoriously, The Kooks were one of the top names in British indie-rock during the mid-noughts.
I had always enjoyed their music, but knew relatively nothing about the artists as people or their fanbase. At their performance, I was wowed by it all.
The Kooks took no time to dive straight into their set, greeting the crowd with an energy that caught me off-guard. The band’s frontman and resident birthday boy Luke Pritchard’s distinct, crooning voice filled the room with infectious energy.
The sold-out room was full of young-looking professionals in their late 20s and early 30s, holding beers with wistful grins plastered on their faces as they heard music and saw idols that probably reminded them of a different time.
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The setlist was a balanced mix of The Kooks’ biggest hits with some of the newer stuff peppered in. “Pamela,” an acoustic version of which was the album’s latest single, was met with a particularly high level of energy from the crowd — impressive for a relatively new song.
The chemistry among the band members also caught my eye. As Pritchard sang and danced — very impressively, I might add — around the stage, he made playful eye contact and loving gestures to fellow original member and guitarist Hugh Harris, as well as drummer Alexis Nunez. Pritchard was the star of the show, exuding the kind of charm and swagger that you’d expect from one of the biggest rock stars in the world — although maybe not one over 10 years into his career as he is.
The Kooks’ performance was incredibly dynamic. Instruments were switched out after almost every song. The understated but clean set was rearranged so Pritchard could sing a few songs solo on piano. The interaction between the band and the audience never ceased. Pritchard teased at one point that the crowd in Baltimore was “way better than New York,” which was met with whoops and hollers by the audience.
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When “Seaside” — one of their biggest hits — came on, it genuinely sounded like a chorus erupted. The entire room joined together, belting every last word. I found myself smiling and bopping along to the performance for the entirety of the show, and can’t remember the last time I witnessed a band that demonstrated equal parts musical talent and a magnetic stage presence like they did.
As they played the last song and did the whole “we’re pretending to leave so you demand an encore” bit that is essential to any classic concert experience, the persistence of the audience wowed me once more. I’ve been to many other shows where people give up after a minute and begin to file out. But the Kooks diehards of Baltimore were not having it, and absolutely lost it when the band came back to play “Naive.”
The success that The Kooks have enjoyed during their 15-odd years as a band is emblematic of something they possess that many others don’t. Their performance Saturday was engaging, enjoyable and proof that they have no plans to stop anytime soon.
