The Kooks w/Illinois
May 12th, 2007
9:30 Club
Washington, D.C.

By Lauren Sloat
New Music Nation Contributor

The Kooks are one of those bands that sound even better live than in the studio. While it would be easy to classify them as just another Brit-pop/alternative rock band, their undeniable soul and reggae undertones make them something of a groove rock group as well. And those beats are especially impossible to ignore live.

Lead singer Luke Pritchard also helps them stand apart from their contemporaries. His thick vibrato and thicker English accent (it’s almost impossible to understand a speaking word he says onstage) lend the Kooks a rich tonality not typical of most indie bands.

They opened the set with “Seaside,” the first track off the love-centric debut album Inside In/Inside Out, and played all their recent singles, including “Ooh La,” “She Moves In Her Own Way,” and crowd-pleasing favorite “Naïve.” The young Brighton foursome couldn’t have looked more British in their tight pants and threadbare t-shirts hanging off skinny frames, though lead singer Luke Pritchard is also (scarily? symbolically?) a dead ringer for a young Bob Dylan.

Pritchard’s performance came off serious and studied, though never stiff or boring. He maintained a stoic and unchanging expression for most of the show, and his commanding presence felt precocious for a nineteen year-old who probably weighs in at less than 140.

Opening band Illinois was decidedly more playful and cocky. Banjo-strumming frontman Chris Archibald said of his closing song, “This one’s for Luke, and his cute little hiney!” While the Pennsylvania natives did slow down to play the more poppy and melancholic “Alone Again” (for which they later apologized: “Sorry for all that girlie stuff!”), they shined in the heavy banjo-based rock prominent in songs like “Nosebleed” – which they claimed was Luke’s favorite as well. Illinois played a lively set that blended naturally with and contributed to the Kooks’ flawless genre-mixing.