Photo Credit: @hj.images
Words: Skye Whitfield
Celebrating 20 years of their iconic debut album ‘Inside In / Inside Out’, Brighton indie rock legends The Kooks made their debut in Scarborough for a sold out performance at the Open Air Theatre, giving fans a trip down memory lane with tracks from their first record as well as a bunch of fan favourites too.
To kick off the night, Girl In the Year Above opened the show, delivering a powerful performance that had the entire crowd in awe. Unleashing into their set with their debut single ‘Mama My Heart Is Achin’, lead singer Jennifer Ball’s sheet ferocity while still showing her elegance is what gives the band such an edge. A surprise cover of Massive Attack’s ‘Teardrop’ came midway through the set, which grabbed the attention of more people as they came pouring into the venue before ending with ‘Life On Earth’ to bow out and attract a large portion of new fans ahead of their upcoming UK tour in October.
Next came Liverpool indie quartet Circa Waves. Having had a quiet 2026 since the release of their double album ‘Death & Love‘ back in October last year, the band’s presence is still valued no matter where they go. Summer anthem ‘Do You Wanna Talk‘ had the entire Scarborough crowd clapping along before the duo of ‘La Bateau‘ and ‘We Made It‘ concluded the new album tracks, leaving a large portion of the set list filled with Circa Waves hits. The upbeat anthems of ‘Jacqueline’ and ‘Sad Happy’ kept up the momentum for both the band and audience as they edged the conclusion of their support slot. As they rounded off their set with ‘T-Shirt Weather’, the summer vibes were well and truly flowing and setting up the perfect warm-up ahead of the headline act.
Now with the support acts out of the way, The Kooks were out on the theatre stage. With a roaring open air audience greeting the Brighton band, ‘Sofa Song’ kicked things off in style. The sun was still lingering around as a ray of Kooks bangers came flowing one after another. Delving into other records periodically in the set, ‘Always Where I Need to Be’ from their chart topping sophomore release ‘Konk’ made an early entry into the night. Returning to their debut album’s track listing with ‘Eddie’s Gun’, ‘Stormy Weather’ and festival favourite ‘She Moves In Her Own Way’, The Kooks were now in full flow as they gripped onto the continued energy that the Scarborough crowd gave off.
Despite having released their seventh studio album ‘Never/Know’ back in May 2025, only one song from that record made it into the set list. After the conclusion of ‘Sunny Baby’, it was all guns blazing from there on. The big hitters came thick and fast, starting with ‘Junk of the Heart (Happy)’ and ‘See Me Now’ before bringing it down a peg with stripped back tracks ‘Jackie Big Tits’ and ‘Seaside’. Returning to the usual indie rock material that fans of The Kooks clamour for, ‘Sway’ and ‘Shine On’ picked up the energy once again, with ‘Matchbox’, ‘ Do You Wanna’ and ‘You Don’t Love Me’ to seal the show ahead of the eventual encore that fans were begging for. After all, there was still a couple of clear missing songs to come.
Once The Kooks returned to the Open Air Theatre stage, there was time for two more tracks. Opening the encore with ‘Ooh La’, Pritchard ensured to cover all areas of the stage, as he did throughout the night, giving fans who had flocked to the barrier earlier on in the night a chance to be heard by the frontman. Now with one more final hit to come, and arguably still their biggest to date, the inevitable ‘Naive’ rounded off The Kooks’ Scarborough dazzling debut in which Pritchard said himself, “We can’t wait to come back!”.
Photo Credit: @hj.images
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