The Kooks @ Bowery Ballroom, NYC | pics
DOWNLOAD: Bob Marley - Jammin (MP3)
The Kooks played their first NYC show at Bowery Ballroom Monday night (October 23, 2006). Though they were lively and somewhat entertaining to watch on stage, I didn't really like the music. The whole reggae/funk thing they seem to be going for turned me off. And at the risk of sounding like I think I'm an expert, I'd say it wasn't done very well.
At least a couple hundred people in the crowd wouldn't agree with my negative assessment though - they were jumping up and down, singing along to every song, and screaming like the Beatles were in the building - I'm assuming most of them were, like the band, British (partly because I heard lots of accents all around me). Could be I'm too old, but I do love the Arctic Monkeys.
Though the show was sold out, the room wasn't as packed as usual. That's probably because the guest list was huge and a bunch of people didn't show up.
Two of the young British band members were wearing CBGB t-shirts which I thought was a nice touch....
Small Sins opened.
Qbertplaya enjoyed herself during their 40-45 minute set. As Bumpershine notes, "you can catch The Kooks on Saturday night (Oct 28) at Northsix and at a free in-store performance at Sound Fix on the same day at 3 PM."
My favorite Kooks song is sung by Lily Allen.