Concert Review: The Kooks Are Out in the Streets of Atlanta
Photo credit: The Kooks
Article & concert photos by Lindsey V. Britt
Indie-pop-rock band The Kooks returns to North America for their first stateside show since 2019, celebrating the belated 15th anniversary of their debut album “Inside In / Inside Out”.
The North America tour started on Leap Day February 29th, 2024, in Atlanta, GA at The Tabernacle, located right beside the SkyView which made it feel like you were in London for the night. Although not common enough, The Tabernacle was super nice and let people start coming inside the building about 20 minutes ahead of time due to the wind and dropping temperature.
The show started shortly after doors officially opened with New York indie-pop, folk band Daisy The Great, led by singer-songwriters Kelley Dugan and Mina Walker. The band previously toured with The Happy Fits and had their own headlining tour last spring and an EU/UK tour this past fall. Opening with their song “Glitter” along with other hit songs such as “Time Machine” and previewing some newly written material. The band was very excited about the t-shirt they created for this tour and met fans at the merchandise table after their set.
English indie-rock band, The Vaccines are the special guest of the tour, who recently released their sixth LP “Pick-Up Full Of Pink Carnations” and just finished their own EU/UK headline tour less than a week before joining The Kooks. Performing a full headline-length set, starting with their latest single “Love To Walk Away”. The set also included “Jump Off The Top”, “I Can’t Quit” and “Discount De Kooning (Last One Standing)” The Vaccines have a rapidly growing fan base, and I was glad to finally see them live after hearing so much about them with it being over five years since their last US show.
The Kooks took to the stage one by one, performing their album “Inside In / Inside Out” beginning with “Seaside”. Lead vocalist Luke Pritchard jumped around the stage all night singing and playing guitar while lead guitarist Hugh Harris did an amazing job. He announced mid-show that he had broken his back just before Christmas, I don’t think anyone in the audience realized from how well he’d been playing. Just in case Harris couldn’t perform they invited Eli Smart on the tour as a backup guitarist and brought him out to perform “Always Where I Need To Be” with the band along with Harris who was able to complete the show.
The crowd sang along all night and my favorite song “She Moves in Her Own Way” received an extra chorus followed by their hit song “Bad Habits” which everyone in the audience loved! Hearing The Kooks play in a concert hall which used to be a church filled the music in the room to another level. It was a dream for any fan of The Kooks that even after the band came back for an encore with songs “Matchbox”, “No Pressure” and of course ending the night with “Naive.” I still wanted to scream encore as I could have listened to them play till sunrise.