Tuesday 26/09/06 The Kooks, Larrikin Love, Cat The Dog @ Rock City, Nottingham

Since ‘Naïve’ caught like wild fire back in 2006, The Kooks have been shooting up the ladder faster than an Arctic Monkey and tonight Nottingham marks the first date of their first large scale sold out UK jaunt.  You can measure popularity in the time it takes to sell out Rock City; Babyshambles will struggle to complete the task, Ryan Adams took weeks and the Kooks took 3 hours.  Ok so it’s not 28 minutes but unless you happen to be the Killers then that’s not really a fair benchmark.  It’s testament to the amount of time it took for them to catch on that ‘Ooh La’, their latest single, marks the sixth release from ‘Inside In/Inside Out’ and yet this is the first time big audiences will enjoy The Kooks experience.  It seems almost greedy that they bring along one of the hottest new acts in the UK, Larrikin Love, too…

Openers Cat The Dog look like Wolfmother crossed with Luke Pritchard and co. but their music follows the latter much more closely.  They produce a slightly scuzzier, dirtier indie sound whilst retaining that catchy charm.  The Brighton four piece’s talent seems unlikely to avoid the radar for too long with this tour in mind.

Next up, Larrikin Love seem a little edgier in sound and appearance.  Edward Larrikin is a fidgety frontman with a real talent and the set really picks up when ‘Edwould’ and ‘Happy as Annie’ follow each other half way through.  Amongst the cowbells, trumpets and guitar solo’s you realise this is a unique act and the fact that the headliners watch attentively from the side indicates they are building admirers quickly.

The Kooks emerge to a heroes welcome and ease in with ‘Seaside’. It’s a perfect set opener lulling the crowd into a false sense of comfort before they shake the ceiling with the boisterous ‘See the World’.  Luke Pritchard is just warming up for this monster European tour but slides around the stage with confidence, he may not be so fresh faced come December when they entertain German audiences on the back of 4 months on tour but he looks an assured frontman tonight. ‘She Moves in Her Own Way’ and ‘Naïve’ are comfortably the most audience friendly but it is the more complex tracks like ‘Time Awaits’ which really highlight the Kooks comfort in the live arena.  The innovation in their music is gleefully present in the acoustic ‘Jackie Big Tits’ and the ‘Sofa Song’ should be re-released as single number 7 if they ever get there.  The balance of the set is perfect too with enough energy and power being expended in between the acoustic gems. 

The audience are literally hanging from the ceiling on the balcony when they run through ‘You Don’t Love Me’ demonstrating this is a band on the verge of moving out of such a venue and onto the arenas.  With any luck the British public might catch them one more time in such relatively intimate atmospheres because with the strength of their live show tonight they’ll give the Killers 28 minute sell out a run for its money.