, to their own discredit, live in a hyperbaric chamber of self-insulation. For most of their career, the band has been dutifully overshadowed in England by larger British acts like the Arctic Monkeys, The Thrills, and The Libertines. In the US, bands like Coldplay, Muse, (and more recently) Alt-J have reaped big buzz and critical cheer.
The Kooks’ Thursday night show at the in Denver had all the trappings of another low-profile tour date with the Arctic Monkeys having just played a highly-anticipated Red Rocks gig last month. But on the heels of recent sold-out shows in LA, San Francisco and SXSW and the release of their new magnetic album “Listen,” The Kooks seem to have punctured the fourth wall of stateside draw. Opening with the liquid fury of “Around Town,” lead-singer Luke Pritchard set the tone with his lucid guitar work and a fevered stage-presence fire.
“Ooh La,” off 2006’s “Inside In/Inside Out” entranced the crowd with its shivery acoustic bristle and bled perfectly into the Clash-inspired new track, “It Was London.” “Bad Habit” was even more polished and danceable with its lean U2 meets INXS high-octane fuzz.
Pritchard’s vocals sounded exotic and rarified in the solo-acoustic simplicity of “Seaside” before the band returned to the pop-punk chirp of “Always Where I Need To Be” and the deep guitar bloodbath of “Sway.” “Forgive & Forget” was a moveable treat with Pritchard exorcizing some sort of Jagger-worship frogstomp and guitarist Hugh Harris melting his axe with deep cuts of chord lava.
The night ended with the woebegone piano-hymn “See Me Now.” It was a fitting nightcap for a band that is on the verge of stepping into the full industry spotlight. Shine on.
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Kris K. Coe is a freelance writer, Denver-native and regular contributor to Reverb.
Karson Brown is a Denver photographer and a regular contributor to Reverb.
