The surprisingly young audience, perhaps an indication of their recent TikTok virality and timeless style, added to the electric atmosphere with the vocal enthusiasm akin to performing their favourite karaoke songs at the local pub.
Openers, Day We Ran, captivated the audience with their guitar-forward indie tracks and glowing harmonies. In a short twenty-minute set, the brothers caught the Birmingham crowd’s attention as phone torches lighted them up.
Continuing the momentum, with an audience ever eager for more, was Merseyside Indie-rock band, The K’s. A cheer emerged as the band asked, “Has anyone heard us before?”, offering an open invitation to anyone bold enough to leave their spot in the now heaving arena who wanted to meet them at the merch table.
Opening with ‘Before I Hit The Floor’, the band performed a selection from their 2025 sophomore album, ‘Pretty On The Internet’, amongst earlier hits: The audience were soon warmed up, on each other's shoulders, dancing and clapping along.
Like clockwork, The Kooks took to the stage at 9 PM with a show that balanced decades of showmanship with an intimate vulnerability, full of intoxicating guitar solos from Hugh Harris throughout. Lead vocalist, Luke Pritchard, wearing a black, sparkling, velour shirt with fewer buttons done up than albums released, quickly waved and blew a kiss to the audience before they dived into ‘Sofa Song’. Despite releasing their latest album, ‘Never/Know’ in May, the band left the audience no excuse for resting their voices, starting with eight classic tracks, including The Kooks’ first single, ‘Eddie’s Gun’. Introduced as “kind of a romantic one”, ‘Westside’ had a groovy edge before guitars rose to prominence in ‘Sweet Emotion’. “We love you, Birmingham, you guys are incredible, the energy in this room is unbelievable”, a moment's encouragement before ‘Sunny Baby’ from their new album took everyone to the beach, complemented by visualisers from the official music video.
Not letting familiarity crowd humility, the band chipped in between songs to thank and check in with the audience; “it means a lot”. ‘Junk Of The Heart (Happy)’ was dedicated to “the lovers”, as a stream of feel-good nostalgia ran through the crowd. Known for their crowd-pleasing indie hits, the setlist turned to one of the few ballads in The Kooks’ discography with ‘See Me Now’. Written as a song to Pritchard’s “old man” who passed away when he was two, the song took on a new heartfelt relevance, dedicated to Terry Matthews and his family. The arena soon lit up with phone torches as the piano ballad built in texture; “That was a beautiful moment, thank you for sharing that with us”.
A highly unsubtle but intentional mood shift found ‘Jackie Big Tits’ as the following song, “we take our art very seriously, but sometimes we do a song like this”, the Birmingham audience in full voice to the 2006 hit. New track ‘If They Could Only Know’ was immediately contrasted with “the first song you might have heard of us”, ‘Seaside’, showcasing The Kooks' exceptional ability to reference their wealth of studio albums throughout the show. After a hiatus from the setlist, ‘Gap’ made a return, “we saw people being upset we’re not playing this…hopefully for someone this is your favourite song”. Judging by the crowd response, there were several.
‘You Don’t Love Me’ preceded the encore, the crowd immediately clamouring for The Kooks’ return. As the stage lit up in red, acoustic-guitar driven ‘Ooh La’ was accompanied by the roar of thousands of voices. “We love this town, we’ve been having the best tour”, Pritchard commented, promising, “we’ll be back soon, I hope”. The highly anticipated finale, ‘Naïve’, received an electric reaction, with fans on each other’s shoulders behind a silhouette of red confetti.
The Kooks know exactly how to entertain, with an unmissable set of fan favourites and a nod to their new album, ‘Never/Know’; there is no doubt why they remain at the pinnacle of British indie rock.
Maisy Neale
Images: Peter Freeth
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