The Kooks Private Gig
What better way to start a weekend, than going to an intimate performance by The Kooks. So off I went to Camden's Proud Galleries still a bit fragile from the night before. The crowd couldn't have been more different than the previous night at the Arctic Monkeys. Here they were an army of Johnny Borell and Sienna Miller look-alikes with perfectly messy hair, skinny jeans and tight leather jackets.
Sitting opposite me I overhear Pixie Geldof and Kimberly Stewart say that The Kooks weren’t playing till 11 and not everyone would get to see them! So at 10.30 me, my cousin and our new queue friends squeezed into the overcrowded sweat pit where some fans had been waiting for 4 hours in a space where 50 fit comfortably and tonight was heaving with close to 200.
The support act Kid Harpoon blew me away, his gypsy punk sounding set, I imagine would even empress the hardest of critics, sounding like a cross between the Gypsy Kings and The Clash. Kid Harpoon had such drive and control of the stage, his sound made me feel as if I was listening to a band in a shanty pub in Ireland. He delivered an unpredictable, super, sexy sexual performance. His music allowed me to dance crazily like the twig in the wind I am. Yet like so many support acts he just couldn’t impress the headliners fans.
The Kooks finally appeared, to a predictably great reception where the feet stomping actually made the ground feel as if it were moving. With little apologies for the wait I couldn't help feel some resentment to the five piece band from Brighton. Opening with Eddies Gun, front man Alex Pritchard, seemed to lack any real enthusiasm and didn’t make any special effort to connect with the crowd, considering this was one of the bands first gigs of the year.
Kook’s classics like Naive and Ooh La were played effortlessly and had the crowd reaching for the skies stamping their feet and screaming the catchy lyrics back at Pritchard. The girl next to me was sent into close orgasm "I'm going to have Luke Pritchard’s babies" she screamed. The guitar driven sound and new tunes Saboteur and Oil were impressive and received well and just as everyone was really beginning to enjoy the night 6, maybe 7 songs in, the lights were raised and the band left, leaving the audience, slightly bewildered and not nearly satisfied.
I fear this won’t be one of those gig which change my life.
