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Leeds Live
Leeds Live
National
Jess Grieveson-Smith

The Kooks at Leeds O2 Academy review: Huge singalongs in an electric atmosphere

It was a night of delight as Brighton boys The Kooks brought some of their biggest hits to Leeds.

A stop on their Inside In/Inside Out 15th Anniversary Tour which kicked off on January 31 in Newcastle, the gig saw a packed O2 academy packed with people who could sing along to every line.

As the band took to the stage with a jubilant cry of "Live music is back baby!" it was a time that finally seemed to resemble the pre-Covid era.

It was perhaps a strange crowd - Inside In Inside Out is celebrating its 15th anniversary but with the age of fans there, it could have been released just yesterday.

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Working out that I was just ten years old when the album debuted, I was surprised to see that a good amount of the audience was even younger than me.

The band also included their latest release Connection (YorkshireLive)

But then, hits like Naïve and She Moves In Her Own Way haven't faded - instead, they've aged like fine wine, played everywhere from student nights out to the soundtrack of films like 17 Again.

Inside In Inside Out peaked at number two in the official UK album chart but fans in Leeds made it pretty obvious that to them it was a number one.

Unlike many concerts where there's the one song the crowd just aren't sure about, every single song on Inside In Inside Out was known word for word.

And it seemed to be that pull that had sold out the seating areas but also filled standing to capacity, with concert-goers on each other's shoulders and singing their hearts out.

The Kooks saw the O2 fill to capacity (YorkshireLive)

Support act The Snuts didn't disappoint either as they were clearly a crowd-pleaser with plenty of fans in the audience.

With many singing along to hits like Glasgow and Somebody Loves You, for those like myself that didn't know the songs that well, it left me wanting to go back and listen to them a lot more.

They were that good that whilst The Kooks waited to return for their encore, there were cries for The Snuts to take to the stage again as well.

The atmosphere for The Kooks' biggest hits Naïve and She Moves In Her Own Way was electric.

The band knew that they'd have the audience entirely with them for the tracks, turning the mic to those watching so the entire academy filled with voices.

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And of course, they didn't forget that they were performing on Valentine's Day.

Inserting their 'Shine On' track from their second album 'Konk' it was a time to feel the love with the lyrics "You look beautiful all the time'.

The success of that insertion was so much so that as the audience exited, it was the song that followed you out into the night.

And as The Kooks lyric goes - they certainly 'shined on'.

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