Review: The Kooks, Newport Centre

Apr 26 2008 By Michael Took, Western Mail

ONE establishment has threatened to smother the UK music scene in recent years – The Brit School.

It’s alumni reads like a Who’s Who of the industry, with Kate Nash, Leona Lewis and Adele all cutting their musical teeth at Croydon’s most savvy college.

With all this premeditated grooming and preening, it’s unsurprising the college has taken a knock from the media with accusations of being nothing more than a production line for faceless pop stars.

A little extreme, but among all the bitter resentment, former pupils The Kooks have managed to sidestep the issue – until now.

The band’s debut album, Inside In/Inside Out, was awash with beatific indie-pop numbers that carved out sentiments way beyond the classroom but their sophomore album, Konk, has had lass success in winning over the furrowed cynics.

A neon light flickering with the band’s name ushered in the first set of wails and whoops from a gaggle of adolescents and their screams heightened with opener Always Where I Need To Be. The track was close to sounding like McFly but it had enough beef to keep onlookers interested.

The straight-up funk of Matchbox followed with lead singer Luke Pritchard playing up to the gallery as his wiry frame dangled over the first few rows. A thinly-veiled homage to Pritchard’s former girlfriend Katie Melua in the shape of Oh La showed the band’s knack of spinning an indie-ballad into three concise minutes.

As the set wore on, it became all the more apparent that Pritchard was a little inebriated as he bumbled his way through the usually breezy She Moves In Her Own Way, allowing the crowd to dutifully fill in the gaps. Pritchard’s interaction with his audience was comical, announcing: “I know it’s a Sunday, but let’s have a good time, yeah?” It was actually Thursday.

Do You Wanna wrapped its less than seductive hook around the repeated line: “Do you wanna make love to me?”

When Pritchard made the audience join in, it became cringe-worthy.

For the most part, The Kooks were polished and efficient – but their repertoire had The Brit School written all over it.