The Kooks review – a triumphant and touching mass singalong

<p><strong>Co-op Live, Manchester</strong><br>Playing to the biggest crowds of their careers, the 00s indie stalwarts perform like they’re loving every minute – although there is also raw emotion in Manchester on the night after the synagogue attack</p><p>As we approach the 20th anniversary of their <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2006/jan/13/popandrock.shopping3">debut album</a>, skinny-trousered indie rock types the Kooks have found a whole new audience. Having been rediscovered by the TikTok generation, early hit <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/jul/11/kooks-how-made-naive-reggae">Naive</a> is powering towards a billion streams, recent album Never/Know returned the band to the Top 10, and they’re now playing the biggest shows of their career. In Manchester tonight, 18,000 mostly teens and early twentysomethings hurl plastic glasses in the air or climb on each other’s shoulders, generating an atmosphere of joyous celebration before the band have played a note.</p><p>It would take a truly disastrous performance to lose in this environment, but instead, thousands of voices turn hits such as Eddie’s Gun or She Moves in Her Own Way into epic, euphoric singalongs, while even the slighter tracks have a new robustness. The Kooks’ were never as feted as the Strokes or the Libertines, but haven’t been hampered by boredom or health issues, and play as if they’re still loving every minute. It’s the day after the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/live/2025/oct/02/police-reports-stabbing-synagogue-greater-manchester-live">Manchester synagogue attack</a>, and frontman Luke Pritchard sets off a wave of cheering when he talks of “throwing a bubble around the arena and it’s all peace and love”.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/oct/05/the-kooks-review-co-op-live-manchester">Continue reading...