The Kooks Live @ Guildhall Southampton

The Kooks @ The Guildhall, Southampton
27/01/2016

We first met The Kooks in 2006 after a string of bands caught the twangy guitar and floppy hair wave. Since then they have treated us to lots of great indie hits that can fill concert halls as well as dance-floors. Ten years and four albums later, the Brighton-based four-piece arrived in Southampton for the last show of their tour.

The set-list starts strongly, with the band dipping into Inside In, Inside Out to start the show. 'Seaside' begins the night, and naturally, the crowd are at their loudest. Another rarity from the same album follows up, the somewhat heavier 'See The World' is where we are introduced to guitarist Hugh Harris. Who, in my opinion is one seriously underrated guitarists from that early 00s era of indie music. His playing can range from aggressive chords, to intricate melodies adding great depth to The Kooks' sound. Those aggressive chords continued throughout the opening to the set, 'Always Where I Need To Be' erupted out of the speakers and despite a few vocal wobbles from Luke Pritchard, it was a strong opening few songs.

Photo credit - @touristfuture (on twitter)

It was as The Kooks arrived at the point in the show where they would play songs from the new album that doubt entered my mind and that of the audiences. That doubt about whether or not the group are relevant any more. There just wasn't  a strong reaction to any of the songs like 'Down' and 'Bad Habit' which left the room feeling flat and lifeless. Even Harris's guitar playing couldn't save them. This might have been because he was put behind a synth for many of these songs. And when Pritchard went all Chris Martin on the audience and sat behind a piano, this seemed to be the final straw. The saving grace from 2014's Listen was 'Forgive And Forget'. The songs incredibly danceable beat woke the Guildhall up again. Musically, it's like a sped up Roxanne, the guitars are twangy and strummed in a slightly jaded way, but put that with the dace-style drums and you get a decent pop song. 

'Shine On' was a strange choice to begin the encore. It's a tad lacklustre in its delivery and at this point it's clear that Pritchard's yelps throughout the set had caught up with him. His voice can at times divide opinion. On the record it can be unique and distinctive, but live it sounded soft. 'Junk Of The Heart' from the bands forgotten third album with the same name revived the crowd for one last time as the song that many people had been waiting for followed. 'Naive's instantly recognisable intro turned the Guildhall from an OAP's disco to a heaving indie-club. Overall, The Kooks have failed to hit the heights of their first album, and this shows not only on their albums, but also when they play. I cannot fault them as musicians, and the early stuff sounds just as fresh as it did in 2006, but Pritchard's vocal performance and the crowd's reaction to songs from Listen signals that The Kooks may be nearing the end. 

Frank Turner at the Portsmouth Guildhall

Frank Turner (and the Sleeping Souls) live at the Portsmouth Guildhall Review

Frank Turner and the sleeping souls play at the Portsmouth Guildhall on a cold February evening, it's the final official show of the UK leg of Frank's tour! Support comes from Franks good friend Beans on Toast and Irish folk rock outfit Flogging Molly!

The first thing that I noticed when queuing was the sheer range of people, men and women of young and old, Frank has an appeal to people of all ages and as he said during his performance "anyone is welcome at my shows" and what a great performance it was. 

Beans on Toast is first to take the stage at the Guildhall and with about half the crowd not even inside yet Beans begins his set. I had never listened to his music before but I was optimistic and unfortunately he let me down. It is only only a voice a guitar a banjo and a harmonica but I definitely the music lacked passion, the songs that he played were quite well written, they are about current events but with a very sarcastic and at some points amusing twists, he may have been the first support but he was not fazed by the crowd, casually asking the audience what songs they wanted to hear in between songs but the songs did not live up to his persona.

Second support act were Irish folk rock veterans Flogging Molly, and again, I had deliberately not listened to their music but their name did ring a bell. They walked out on to stage to a bigger crowd than Beans on Toast and were greeted with applause and cheers. Then the first song started and it felt like I had hit a brick wall, the music was surprisingly good a great potion of old Irish folk with a dash of rock and even a little bit of punk! Without being disrespectful the band members looked at least 50 years of old however that meant nothing because they were great to watch live and their songs had a degree of power and passion about them, a completely different outfit to Beans on Toast. Their set flew by and as they said their goodbyes the attention turned to reason why everyone was packed inside the Guildhall!

Cheers greeted the changing of the stage set to reveal Frank's banner if you will, and you could feel the atmosphere building around the venue, and then the lights faded and a strange song began to play which sounded like an old pirate song! But nonetheless, it ended and the banner dropped and Frank jumped out to the mic and the lights turn to himself and the sleeping souls! The set begins with the brilliant Photosynthesis which sends the audience into raptures. I had heard that Frank was good live, but nothing could prepare me for seeing him in person, he has some much passion for his music and the power that he (along with the band) generates is phenomenal! He was touring his latest album Tape Deck Heart so, naturally the would be the main focus of the setlist, but I was more than happy to hear a couple of old songs. Tape Deck Heart has received some great reviews by critics and journalists but the album plays brilliantly live, the songs seem to take on a life of their own and Frank gets the crowd jumping and dancing with ease. I think people give Frank too much stick sometimes, yes he went to Eton but so what, if you're as talented as he is then it shouldn't matter how you grew up, he also comes across as an extremely nice and funny man, interacting with the crowd like he would interact with a friend in a pub! The set continues on and we got to hear some of the great songs from England Keep my Bones which again, blew me away, and Frank handed over his guitar playing duties to another band member which enables him to jump and run around the stage and really get the crowd going and it was a great spectacle. As the set draws to a close, Frank is joined on stage by people wearing animal costumes for "Recovery" and he tells us that this song defines the audience, and it got everyone pumped up and as the song began it sounded as if every single person was singing along at the top of their voice he also played Wisdom Teeth which was very unusual, he said himself, "I haven't played this song for a very long time" I hadn't heard the song before and it was completely different to other songs, it was full of soul and emotion which told us that Frank can vary his songwriting and performance like few other musicians can and again, the passion he shows for the music when playing live is amazing. The set ended with the brilliant "Four Simple Words" from Tape Deck Heart, the perfect ending, I highly recommend that you see Frank live at some point, not only is the music great, but the sense of occasion is immense.