By Desh Kapur, Rock At Night Manchester

Venue: Castlefield Bowl, July 12, 2019-THE KOOKS – The Sherlock’s at the Sounds of the City

The Castlefield Bowl was the beautiful host for another night in the series of Sound Of The City concerts and tonight I was here to cover the mighty, mighty Kooks and Brit Indie rockers The Sherlock’s and what an amazing night it turned out to be.

To kick things off though were Sheffield’s own The Sherlock’s bringing to the stage their own blend of driving sweet power Indie Pop reminding me in parts of Manchester hero’s The Courteeners and having heard a couple of tracks recently on the radio, I was very much looking forward to seeing the band. Seamless harmonies with soaring choruses, blending well with Hard-hitting guitar and they actually sounded better live than on record.

The band interacted well with the audience and soon had them in the palms of their hands, dancing and swaying with each track, and even helping lead singer Kiaran Crook with his vocals as is voice seemed to fade a little by the end and then as quickly as they arrived they were gone, to much appreciation, to much applause.

Soon though it was the turn of The Kooks. A band whose journey has spanned 15 years and five albums containing some of the most iconic Brit Pop songs ever written. The soundtrack to many a young life, the set was electric to say the least, playing mostly tracks from the first four albums.

As lead singer Luke Pritchard danced a jump across the stage, seeming to have the time of his life, I did feel though that many in the packed out Castlefield Bowl were there for the memories of the first two albums and Those classics were rolled out with the ecstatic crowd singing along in unison, especially for “Always Where I Need To Be”, “Junk Of The Heart”, “She Moves In Her Own Way”, and the brilliant “Naive’ Nothing against the newer songs, but this is pure Kooks on top of the game and as far as I am concerned at the peak of the song writing powers.

So with a nod to the audience and a defiant ‘Vote for the Kooks’ in the next election loudly voiced, the music ended and the band strode off stage, heads held high, souls intact. They are a great band, brilliantly British and superb live. The songs are amazing and truthfully they should be cherished with all of the other greats and on tonight’s showing, that will never be a problem.

The Kooks – Website

The Kooks – Facebook

The Sherlocks-Website

The Sherlocks-Facebook