THE KOOKS

My birthday present to myself this year was a ticket to see The Kooks perform here in NYC at Terminal 5, and the magical day came last night!! I had an appointment in midtown after work, then ate in Koreatown before trekking to Terminal 5 on the west side near the river.

I'll never forgive myself for not listening to my crazy English and Irish friends in France when they would flock to their concerts (since they're infinitely more popular in Europe although gaining some steam in the US) and I would think they were all just hyperactive Englishers off to weird shows. I finally started listening to them a few months after I returned for my senior year of college out of nostalgia and immediately regretted never giving them a thought sooner. I did get to see them in the Fall of 2008 in Hollywood with Becca, and they are one of those bands and performances that as soon as it's over you're like "So when are they coming back again?" I loveeeeee them!!!

Terminal 5 is a fabulous venue... spacious but intimate, airy, all general admission. This was waiting for The Kooks to come on after one of their opening bands (I missed the first opening act, but they were called Yawn, and that name alone tells me I didn't miss much.) People were sitting on the deck with their feet hanging over, and it was a kind of cute shot with all these shoes dangling



I don't like taking pictures/filming during shows because I would rather live my life through my eyes than my media, but EVERYONE was doing this, and it was a sea of screens leading up to the stage, and it felt a little bit like I had the visual version of surround sound. It doesn't come across as well in this picture, but that was my attempt at it. And I am officially the pot calling all those kettles black.



THE SHOW WAS AMAZINGGGGGG! I was SO SATISFIED with everything! The crowd, the vibe, the energy, the show, the setlist, etc etc. I'm pretty sure the band was completely drunk (only amplified by them swigging their beers instead of waters onstage) but it made it that much more entertaining! I loveeeeeee them! I don't even know what they are, British rock? But they're the perfect recipe for a great show, loud, catchy, dancey, fun fun fun!

So sad when it was over. I preferred to let the stampede to the doors (after the encore!) thin out (did no one learn anything from Mufasa's death??) and loved the drum set on stage so took a picture while I was waiting.



I'm NEVER good at picking the right samples of anything (I turned some friends off to the Office for YEARS because of the episode I chose to show them, and they since gave it another chance and love it NOW) but here's a song of The Kooks that I love.



I don't even care if you like them or not, because I love them and will continue to claw my way into their shows.