Photo Credit: James Mirfield

Just three weeks into 2026, Brighton indie rock icons The Kooks celebrated the 20th anniversary of their debut album ‘Inside In / Inside Out’. Reaching #2 in the UK Album Charts two decades ago, the band have gone from strength to strength with each release, experimenting with their sound while still maintaining a fanbase that rushes to the barrier no matter where they go. Not forgetting their roots, Pritchard and co rolled back the years with a near full album play through alongside a series of fan favourites to cover almost all the eras of The Kooks.

Birmingham indie rock quartet The Clause were ahead of the main act, who are still riding the wave after the success of their debut record ‘Victim of a Casual Thing‘. Hitting the top spot in the UK Independent Album Chart back in October 2025, the Black Country band have performed to countless sold out crowds, with two huge UK tours under their belts recently, this was one of the biggest stages the band had ever played on. With a setlist mainly consisting of songs from their debut record

Finally, the moment fans were waiting for arrived. The Kooks made their way on stage with a packed out crowd and a beautiful venue in front of them, the moment Luke Pritchard stepped out from the wings as the final member to appear, ‘Sofa Song’ kicked off the night. The upbeat anthem had everyone dancing and singing along, with pints being spilled and arms linking with friends, the positive energy was flowing right from the off. Taken from the sophomore release ‘Konk’, the single ‘Always Where I Want to Be’ followed, indicating this was going to be an ‘Inside In / Inside Out’ full playthrough. That didn’t matter though, as these tracks are still firm favourites by everyone in attendance.

‘Eddie’s Gun’ and the timeless ‘She Moves In Her Own Way’ made early appearance into the set, with the latter being met with screams from the crowd while the band performed the song flawlessly, just as they always do. Dipping in and out of various records, crowd pleasers ‘Junk of the Heart (Happy)’ and ‘See Me Now’ kept people engaged before further debut record material came around. Acoustic duos ‘Jackie Big Tits’ and album opener ‘Seaside’ were both met with a huge audience participation, while the band watched on in awe of the capacity courtyard continuing to get involved for tracks now two decades old.

‘Sway’, ‘Shine On’ and ‘Do You Wanna’ rounded off the ‘Konk’ material before ‘You Don’t Love Me’ concluded the main portion of the set before a brief breather from the band to build up the excitement of an eventual encore. As The Kooks returned to The Piece Hall stage, there was time for just two more as Pritchard stated. Those being ‘Ooh La’ and of course ‘Naive’ to throw it back twenty years one final time, proving these songs are just as adored today as they were when battling it out for the top spot in the charts back in 2006.