The Kooks Take on Sold-Out Boston Show With Ease

The Kooks performing live at House of Blues Boston | Photo by Maya Jimenez

The Kooks were good and they knew it. The English indie crowd pleasers took on the House of Blues in Boston with ease on Saturday night, playing to a sold-out audience.

See more of Maya’s photos from the Kooks concert here!

Frontman Luke Pritchard stole the show entirely – I’d imagine the rest of the band must be used to it by now, and his legions of fangirls definitely weren’t complaining. There was a moment when “Sway” was about to start that a pair of girls next to me were literally shreiking (and I’ve seen my share of boy bands and popstars – nothing like what Pritchard inspired.) He strutted and lept and swung his mic around, hamming it up for the front row’s iPhone videos. He was a regular rock god.

I have this theory that big venues can manage to make any band sound incredible. Yes, it’s partly their more expensive sound systems and acoustics. But it’s also that major tours are produced on a larger scale. There is no room for improvisation or error at a show in front of over 2,400 people who paid an average of $50 per ticket. The “Big Venue Theory” is that when you put any band in that type of a setting, they’ll do things they would never do in, say, a small club.

Everything – every head bob, every dance move – that Pritchard brought to the stage was symptomatic of the Big Venue Theory. This show had been done so many times, and there was no genuinity in it anymore.

But was it good? Yes. The show was incredible. The audience was happy. They sounded great, and there were no (noticible) slip-ups.

But my point is that it went exactly as it was planned. I wasn’t impressed because any band can learn to play a good show if they practice enough. The Kooks delivered a performance that they knew was near-perfect. But with that self-aweareness came apathy, and all that was left was a fancy light show, well-produced sound, and some choreography.

And I think there is a real problem when a band thinks they’re too good for their own music.

The Kooks performing live at House of Blues Boston | Photo by Maya Jimenez

What do you think of the Kooks? Too good for their own good?