IMAGES AND WORDS BY DESH KAPUR
“By this point, the whole place was rocking and swaying. 75% of the audience sang along word for word at the top of their voices… and it sounded amazing”
Thursday night was cold and wet, but it was off to O2 Victoria Warehouse to check out the old and the new. Not only in terms of the age of the bands I’m reviewing, but in terms of records in my record collection. The old being the classic, The Kooks “Inside In / Inside Out” which has been in my record collection since its release in 2006, and the new being support band The Snuts whose debut release “W.L” has been in my record collection since its release in 2021.
So here we were, taking our places for The Kooks “Inside In / Inside Out 15th Anniversary UK Tour”. The venue was packed out, the lights dimmed. It was time to get the party started with Indie Rockers, The Snuts.
The Snuts formed in 2015, originating from West Lothian, Scotland. The band consists of Jack Cochrane (vocals and guitar), Joe McGillveray (guitar), Callum ’29’ Wilson (bass) and Jordan ‘Joko’ Mackay (drums).
The intro music started and on walked the band taking up their positions on the stage, dressed in blue graffiti-painted boiler suits and the whole venue burst into life to the metallic guitar strumming intro of ” Don’t Forget It (Punk)” which reverberated around the venue and the noise levels rose. Lead singer, Jack Cochrane’s voice sounded aggressive as he started to sing the opening verse, then the whole band kicked in and we were off.
They flowed straight into one of my personal favourite tracks, “Always” with its recognisable fuzzy guitar-plucking intro, shuffling beat and walking bass before it grooves and trips. “Juan Belmonte”, is slower, brooding and moody and reminds me of The Artic Monkeys; very cool indeed. Then it was “Elephants” and the latest single “Burn The Empire”. The latter song full of attitude and aggression. The band then launched into their Radio 1 breakthrough single “Somebody Loves You”. It feels a lot harder live than it does on record, but it maintains that slightly Caribbean feel. Such an uplifting track with an infectious chorus.
The set comes to an end with two of my favourite tracks off their debut album, “All Your Friends” and “Glasgow”. By this time the venue was a sea of bouncing, dancing bodies. I have seen The Snuts a few times, the first in 2019, and every time I see them, they get better and better, and tonight, even though the set was short and to the point, they were brilliant. So, if you like your bands to have Indie cool, melody, big choruses and soaring vocals then this is the band for you.
And so, it was time for The Kooks, here to celebrate the 15th Anniversary of Inside In / Inside Out, their debut studio album. It was released on 23 January 2006 on Virgin Records. It contains the singles, “Eddie’s Gun”, “Sofa Song”, “You Don’t Love Me”, “Naïve”, “She Moves in Her Own Way”, and “Ooh La” and reached No. 2 in the UK Albums Chart. The album has sold over 2,000,000 copies worldwide since it’s release.
Tonight, they were going to play every tack off the album, plus some tracks from their later releases. And the packed out O2 Victoria Warehouse couldn’t have been more ready for it.
Lead singer Luke Pritchard walked onto the stage, picked up an acoustic guitar and started off the evening with “Seaside”, the first track on the album that we were here to celebrate. Then for the next 6 songs it was album order – “See The World”, “Sofa Song”, “Eddie’s Gun”, “Ooh La” “You Don’t Love Me” and “She Moves In Her Own Way”. By this point, the whole place was rocking and swaying. 75% of the audience sang along word for word at the top of their voices… and it sounded amazing.
“Bad Habit” was the first deviation from Inside In / Inside Out, being from the bands fourth studio album “Listen”, followed by their new single “Connection”. Then the effortlessly catchy, “Breezy”, and jangly “Shine On” from the band’s second album “Konk”.
Back to Inside In/Inside Out for “I Want You”, “Jackie Big Tits” “If Only” before back to “Konk” again for “Always where I Need To Be” with it’s gritty guitar riffs and “do-do-do-do” chorus which the whole of the venue got in on with Luke Prichard declaring “Let’s sing a song together.” And they all happily obliged.
“Do You Wanna”, “Got To Love”, “Time Awaits” and “Junk Of The Heart” brought the set to a close or did it???
Nope, it was encore time, and the band bounced back onto the stage, and the crowd made enough noise to lift the ceiling off the O2 Victoria Warehouse. Could it get any louder? The band played “Matchbox” and “Pleasure” before playing the song the whole venue was waiting for – “Naïve” and I have never heard anything like it, bodies moved and swayed and you couldn’t hear Luke sing, as the crowd sang every word in unison so loud they drowned him out, it was a beautiful thing to behold and with that, it was over….
The Kooks are a great band, brilliantly British and superb live. The songs are amazing and truthfully, they should be cherished with all of the other great British bands and on tonight’s showing, that will never be a problem.
SET LIST
1/ SEASIDE
2/ SEE THE WORLD
3/ SOFA SONG
4/ EDDIE’S GUN
5/ OOH LA
6/ YOU DON’T LOVE ME
7/ SHE MOVES IN HER OWN WAY
8/ BAD HABIT
9/ CONNECTION
10/ SHINE ON
11/ I WANT YOU
12/ JACKIE BIG TITS
13/ IF ONLY
14/ ALWAYS WHERE I NEED TO BE
15/ DO YOU WANNA
16/ GOT NO LOVE
17/ TIME AWAITS
18/ JUNK OF THE HEART (HAPPY) ENCORE
19/ MATCHBOX
20/ NO PRESSURE
21/ NAIVE
FOLLOW THE KOOKS
FOLLOW THE SNUTS
My life is a soundtrack, i track my life through music, photography is my passion, my escape, my expression. Without both i have pieces missing, thankfully i’m blessed and get to combine both.
Born in Manchester, lived in Australia for 22 years where i was heavily involved in the Australian Music Industry, firstly in bands (Singer) and then managing bands (all original), I moved back to the UK, Wales specifically 10 years ago and married my childhood sweetheart and life is good.
