The Kooks/ The Automatic @ Southampton Joiners. 24/01/06
Article originally published at http://www.disordermagazine.net/article.php?id=132
The Kooks/ The Automatic @ Southampton Joiners. 24/01/06
Tickets for this intimate gig selling were on ebay for almost £90 per pair. Inside the venue I study a few faces trying to figure out what type of person could possibly like this band enough to pay such an absurd price, but stop when I realize that I myself paid £15 for the £6 face value ticket.
After a long, long wait in a restless sweaty crowd The Automatic finally take to the stage to the relief of the adolescent crowd. By now I’ve already sunk my only beer of the night (I’m driving… again), so I’m forced to watch the remainder of the show fuelled only on coke and/or water. The big guy on bass is stood centre stage and says “hello” in that timid way bands do when they don’t want to appear arrogant, and they tear into their first tune. When I say ‘tear’ I actually mean ‘cut along the previously marked-out guidelines’, as we are revisiting Brit-pop here people. I’ve often wondered who would follow in Kaiser Chief’s footsteps with the whole rigidly-structured catchy twist on the current ‘jerky-riff’ craze, and tonight I am presented with an example of just such a band.
Performance-wise this is a one-man show. Pennie the synth man twists and contorts over his sound manipulation equipment before teetering on the edge of the stage over the audience, barking backing vocals into his mic as if the rest of the band forgot to walk him, which is entirely possible considering they forgot to bring their charisma onstage tonight. Without Pennie they would just be an indie band with catchy songs and a slightly nervous front man (who has lost his voice tonight), apparently this young keyboardist has to entertain a sold out Alexandra Palace on his own on April 22nd supporting, you guessed it, the Kaiser Chiefs.
A security man guides The Kooks through the crowd (there is no rear access to the stage here) and the female contingent raise an ear-splitting screech for lead singer Luke.
He sees this as a perfect opportunity to ham it up even more by kicking off with solo piece ‘Seaside’, a nostalgic dip of the toe into coast-based childhood. After this the girl fans are like lambs to the slaughter, and the whole band tear into the material from recently-released album ‘Inside In/ Inside Out’. As far as I can hear this is good ol’ fashioned Rock ‘n’ Roll, with most songs being entirely chord-based. There are no ‘Libertines-esque’ riffs being sold here, just straightforward verse-chorus singalong tunes that all require the same speed of head-nodding. A rhythm that begins to get a tad boring, conveniently at a time when I am thirsty.
When I return with my plastic tumbler of Coke and scramble for somewhere to stand, the music that greets me sounds strangely different not unlike the Dire Straights classic ‘Sultans of Swing’. In actual fact it’s ‘Ooh La’, and I’m probably the only person in the audience who makes the classic rock connection. Is it because I’m sad? because I’m relatively uncool? (I don’t wear scarves indoors on general principle) Whatever the reason it’s the highlight of my night, but I still find myself hoping that they don’t treat us to an encore.
Officially, The Kooks ‘rock’ the Joiners tonight. They play to their strengths and to their existing fans, but I’m not sure if performances like this will win them too many new fans in larger venues. They can for now however, consider the Southampton Joiners’ slain.
www.thekooks.co.uk, www.theautomatic.co.uk and of course, they are both on www.myspace.com.
30 Jan 2006 by Matt S
The Kooks/ The Automatic @ Southampton Joiners. 24/01/06
Tickets for this intimate gig selling were on ebay for almost £90 per pair. Inside the venue I study a few faces trying to figure out what type of person could possibly like this band enough to pay such an absurd price, but stop when I realize that I myself paid £15 for the £6 face value ticket.
After a long, long wait in a restless sweaty crowd The Automatic finally take to the stage to the relief of the adolescent crowd. By now I’ve already sunk my only beer of the night (I’m driving… again), so I’m forced to watch the remainder of the show fuelled only on coke and/or water. The big guy on bass is stood centre stage and says “hello” in that timid way bands do when they don’t want to appear arrogant, and they tear into their first tune. When I say ‘tear’ I actually mean ‘cut along the previously marked-out guidelines’, as we are revisiting Brit-pop here people. I’ve often wondered who would follow in Kaiser Chief’s footsteps with the whole rigidly-structured catchy twist on the current ‘jerky-riff’ craze, and tonight I am presented with an example of just such a band.
Performance-wise this is a one-man show. Pennie the synth man twists and contorts over his sound manipulation equipment before teetering on the edge of the stage over the audience, barking backing vocals into his mic as if the rest of the band forgot to walk him, which is entirely possible considering they forgot to bring their charisma onstage tonight. Without Pennie they would just be an indie band with catchy songs and a slightly nervous front man (who has lost his voice tonight), apparently this young keyboardist has to entertain a sold out Alexandra Palace on his own on April 22nd supporting, you guessed it, the Kaiser Chiefs.
A security man guides The Kooks through the crowd (there is no rear access to the stage here) and the female contingent raise an ear-splitting screech for lead singer Luke.
He sees this as a perfect opportunity to ham it up even more by kicking off with solo piece ‘Seaside’, a nostalgic dip of the toe into coast-based childhood. After this the girl fans are like lambs to the slaughter, and the whole band tear into the material from recently-released album ‘Inside In/ Inside Out’. As far as I can hear this is good ol’ fashioned Rock ‘n’ Roll, with most songs being entirely chord-based. There are no ‘Libertines-esque’ riffs being sold here, just straightforward verse-chorus singalong tunes that all require the same speed of head-nodding. A rhythm that begins to get a tad boring, conveniently at a time when I am thirsty.
When I return with my plastic tumbler of Coke and scramble for somewhere to stand, the music that greets me sounds strangely different not unlike the Dire Straights classic ‘Sultans of Swing’. In actual fact it’s ‘Ooh La’, and I’m probably the only person in the audience who makes the classic rock connection. Is it because I’m sad? because I’m relatively uncool? (I don’t wear scarves indoors on general principle) Whatever the reason it’s the highlight of my night, but I still find myself hoping that they don’t treat us to an encore.
Officially, The Kooks ‘rock’ the Joiners tonight. They play to their strengths and to their existing fans, but I’m not sure if performances like this will win them too many new fans in larger venues. They can for now however, consider the Southampton Joiners’ slain.
www.thekooks.co.uk, www.theautomatic.co.uk and of course, they are both on www.myspace.com.
30 Jan 2006 by Matt S
posted by Matthew Simpson | 4:33 PM
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