Live review: The Kooks go Inside Out and back again in Yorkshire
It was Inside Out and back again as The Kooks celebrated 20 years of their indie classic in Yorkshire's best venue.
Rejoicing the anniversary of their seminal 2006 debut album Inside In/Inside Out, Luke Pritchard and co proved that while two decades may have passed, their summer-inspired indie hooks haven’t aged a day.
The carefree Brighton boys were in town for a spectacular evening of trimmed indie hits for their Halifax Piece Hall debut.
And what better way to end a working week than with the South Coast's finest, as they undeniably brought their sunshine and festival tunes to the home of the Piece Hall and Quality Street, turning the massive yet beautiful Georgian courtyard into a bouncing, sun-drenched celebration of a generation-defining sound.
The evening’s curation of sprouting supports set the tone perfectly.
Manchester-based electric violinist Kate Couriel opened the night with a striking, genre-blending performance that rippled strikingly through the open Yorkshire air, and if she came across as familiar to a few in the indie scene, it might be due to her also being the talented violinist who stands beside fellow rising star Seb Lowe every other night.
Following on from Couriel were the four-piece rockers The Clause, who irrefutably dialed up the energy, delivering a swaggering set packed with huge, arena-ready hooks underpinned by gritty, pulsing verses akin to the likes of Muse.
They are certainly a band tailor-made for big crowds and bigger stages, and by the time they finished their stimulating rock showcase, with the cobbles on the Piece Hall floor still vibrating, the Halifax audience was properly primed for their main course.
When The Kooks bounded onto the well-trodden stage, they didn’t waste a single second of their summer spotlight.
Kicking things off with the double-barrelled blast of Sofa Song and Always Where, frontman Luke Pritchard had the crowd in the absolute palm of his hand from the very first chord.
With people on shoulders and the Halifax folk fully embracing the occasion, Pritchard remains the consummate indie showman, exuding bouncy energy, curls, and that effortless Southern comfort charm.
The setlist was a relentless march through a golden era of British indie, featuring massive crowd-pleasers like Eddie's Gun, Seaside, Shine On, Do You Wanna, and See Me Now.
The audience received the primal performance with the same sort of enthusiasm as when your favourite auntie brings out a box of Quality Street (a treat unless it's the caramel swirl)!
The absolute pinnacle of the main set, however, was the early showing of major hit She Moves In Her Own Way, which appeared roughly five songs into their showcase.
A song that has transcended levels of popularity unheard of, the unofficial summer anthem of ’06 mesmerised the thousands in attendance, with many probably younger than the song itself.
The epoch-making track transformed the historically confined courtyard into a massive, breathless singalong that echoed right up into the sunset sky above, and with the chorus being so ridiculously loud, I’m pretty sure the town next door even heard the forever nostalgic reverberating lines of “Well, uh-oh, oh, I love her because...She moves in her own way."
Following on from there, they brought the main set to a raucous, gritty conclusion with a fiery performance of You Don’t Love Me, leaving the crowd clamouring for more, which in return they would receive after a five-minute wait for their encore.
Returning for an all-star encore, the Brighton ock band delivered a flawless one-two punch of their biggest heavy hitters: the infectiously tasty Ooh La and the timelessly indie anthem Naïve, which will forever be gracing indie dancefloors and festival fields for years to come.
Beaming at the roaring response, Pritchard declared it "the best night" before teasingly asking the driven Halifax crowd if they could "come back next year." When the audience resoundingly agreed with their approval, he grinned ear to ear before declaring: "Let's set a date."
On the evidence of last night’s triumphant, hit-heavy display, Halifax will be holding them to that promise. As twenty years on into their career, it would be utterly Naïve to think The Kooks are slowing down anytime soon.
All photos: Luc Burke-Lejeune