The Kooks @Bowery Ballroom, Oct. 23rd

So the kids like the Kooks. I don't know how but I ended up front center amongst the young'uns, and now my shoulders are all sore. I went for the hype -- $13 was not a big amount to dish, and I was entertained. They whipped through a dozen or so songs in 45 minutes, the crowd surged back and forth, and I was happy to hop in a cab by 10:30pm afterwards. I guess the kids had to make curfew or something. The Kooks had loads of chi -- but one would hope so for a band whose ages averaged 20 years. Lordy, I felt old!

Anyway, here are the goods:

Notice how Max the bassist and Hugh the lead guitarist wear CBGB shirts. I wonder if they stopped by the souvenir shop before heading down Bowery. It's as if they wanted to say, "Why, yes, we are rock 'n roll."

The opener, Small Sins, was a bit disappointing. I listened a few of their tunes on their website and thought they'd sound more like Postal Service, but they ended up sounding quite pedestrian. I did like their guitarist's belt buckle, however:


Good night, everybody!!!

Nice, I got linked on Brooklyn Vegan.