Sunday, February 19, 2006
I'm a Kook(oo)
One of the best things about being a gig-goer in Berlin is getting to see all the hyped British bands in tiny little venues. It sometimes feels like I spend my life in the oven that is Magnet, but when you get to see bands playing in the 300 capacity venue that can fill Brixton Academy, you know you are onto a winner. On Saturday, the UK hype ship sailed into town as the Kooks made their German debut. Tickets were a mere 5€ so the queue of Zeitgeist followers stretched for blocks and blocks.
The Kooks are a band from Brighton. I love Brighton. It's a special place by the sea - a quirky and liberal town that fosters great artists and great music. My favourite Brighton bands are The Pipettes and British Sea Power and I love very little more than a sunny Saturday in Brighton, scampi and chips on the beach as the sun sets. The Kooks disappointed in so far as they are not as original and exciting as their fellow Brightonian cohorts. But they satisfied in their jingly, jangly, jumpy Kinks-inpired urchin-indie-rock, catchy melodies, sweaty, energetic rock posturing and thick Sarf-Coast accents. It reminded me of when I saw Arctic Monkeys in June 2005 and the raw energy between the band and the crowd was unimaginable. It was a similar deal here, or maybe a drunken Saturday night crowd, but there was real electricity. Luke, the singer, made sure the crazies in the front row were "awite?", emulating that "we are one" attitutde characteristic of bands like The Others and Arctic Monkeys.
Wow, I've gone so far without saying they sound a bit like Razorlight. They sound like a bit Razorlight, but this is ok, because Razorlight actually were good fun until Johnny Borrel decided he was a Messiah. In conclusion. I like The Kooks, their album Inside In/Inside Out is really nice, going to their gigs is fun. Oh, and they are coming back to Germany in April:
18th Munich Backstage
19th Frankfurt Batshkapp
20th Dresden Starclub
21st Berlin Postbahnhof
22nd Hamburg Grunspan
23rd Bochem Zeche
Have a listen to the first song on the album, Seaside.
http://rapidshare.de/files/13638562/01_the_kooks_-_seaside.mp3.html
posted by Unknown at 2/19/2006 03:51:00 pm
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