Concert Review: The Kooks @ The Warfield 10/25

I first learned of The Kooks on my semester abroad in Lancaster, England. I spent six months amongst the British Rock I now love and The Kooks were a part of my daily partying experience. Unfortunately, until now, I only knew two songs. I wasn't sure what to expect from the rest of their music, because, alas, I didn't do any research. I also was curious what the crowd would be like; does anyone outside of England know anything about The Kooks? Obviously if they are playing in San Francisco someone knows who they are. Well, the show was sold out and it wasn't just a bunch of Brits. There were people of all ages, shapes, sizes and country-ship there.

The Warfield is a beautiful venue. Old theatre style, with ornate walls and inlay and a heavy and elaborate red curtain. The Kooks surprised everyone by going on a half hour early at 9:30pm. They were met with screams from the "mosh pit" section and they opened with a mover and shaker, Always Where I Need To Be. The lead singer, Luke Pritchard, has an amazing amount of charisma and energy up on stage. It must be a British thing because he reminded me so much of a young Mick Jagger. He really played up the crowd and kept his energy going throughout the whole set. 

As all fans are, The Kooks fans are devoted to their band -- one girl even threw her bra on stage. Luke played to the crowds enthusiasm by crowd surfing and the people in the pit all helped him up. Another fan shared their glow in the dark necklace with him and Luke made it a crown.

It's very satisfying to go and hear a band live and then to go back to their recordings and feel like you've missed something. Although it makes it difficult to hear a recorded album on your iPod again, knowing that the group is amazing live makes it all worth it. The Kooks are definitely this band. Even though I didn't know many of the songs, I found myself moving to the beats and semi-thrashing my head at the appropriate moments; I couldn't help it!

The Kooks came out with their debut album Inside In/Inside Out in 2006 which had their hit song Naive as the single. The Kooks got their name from the song "Kooks" off of David Bowies' album Hunky Dory from 1971. Their second album Konk, came out this year.

I think the intimate setting of the Warfield allowed The Kooks to really be themselves up on stage and give it all they had. Luke sang a couple of new songs for the encore, one of them, "Princess of My Mind" was so lovely. He sang acoustically which allowed the lyrics to really speak for themselves and they were just beautiful.