The English indie band The Kooks stopped by the Setlist office to reflect on 20 years of music and more than 1,000 live shows.
Formed in Brighton in 2004—the same rich soil that also gave the world Royal Blood, Bat for Lashes, The Go! Team and Architects—The Kooks broke through quickly with early hits such as “Naive,” “She Moves in Her Own Way” and “Ooh La.” Notably, their debut smash, Inside In/Inside Out, went quadruple platinum in the U.K.
Over time, the band evolved sonically and underwent the typical lineup changes, eventually narrowing to its core duo: singer/guitarist Luke Pritchard and lead guitarist Hugh Harris.
In May, The Kooks released their seventh studio album, Never/Know, which was self-produced and written during a five-day session in Berlin. To support the record, the group launched a world tour with dates across the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Europe. A full U.K. arena run is scheduled for the fall, with stops in Manchester, Cardiff, Newcastle, Birmingham and Brighton, and a grand finale set for London’s O2 Arena.
Let's see what Pritchard and Harris said about some of their memorable setlist choices from throughout their two-decade rock and roll journey.
"Harvest"
Hugh Harris: "Harvest?" What the heck is that? "Harvest"?
Luke Pritchard: It's a song and an album by Neil Young.
Harris: Oh, the one that everyone skips on Harvest.
"Womp Womp"
Harris: Some of these songs I can't even remember.
Pritchard: Oh, "Womp Womp." You don't remember it?
Harris: No.
Pritchard: It never made it to a record or a B side. I had this idea that The Womp Womp could become like a dance.
Harris: I have no memory of that whatsoever. I must have been elsewhere. August 2, 2013, [song] number nine. "Womp Womp." New song. First time played.
Pritchard: So we performed it. So you must have been--
Harris: I could have been there, physically.
"Disappear"
Pritchard: Oh, wow. Were looking at Others.
Harris: "Disappear. What an amazing song. That was left off album two [Konk].
Pritchard: Our first album had done so well, all of a sudden, we had the resources. And they were like, we're gonna go to this house and workshop the new album, and we brought our whole crew and everything.
I think we only came out with like, two songs.
Harris: Nothing.
Pritchard: It's too much. So sometimes with music, you don't need to do all that
Harris: Creative limitation. It's like the Audrey Hepburn quote, "dress up as you like, to go out and then take one thing off before you leave." Should be the same with the record, like, just do, do what you want, but then, like, add one creative limitation.
"Victoria"
Harris: Check out some covers. Are you seeing what I'm seeing here? Do you remember this gig? We covered "Victoria" by The Kinks with Ray Davis, the singer of The Kinks.
Pritchard: One of our biggest influences. And he just turns up with Tele, wasn't it? And then he had just a Fender Twin [amp] and he's just cranking it.
They say that The Kinks, maybe, were the first to do proper distortion and they used to cut the speakers to try and get that distortion sound. So he's known for that, and he's cranking the amp.
But I'm trying to sing, I was like, "Ray, could you turn it down?"
He did turn it down.
Harris: He turned it down.
Pritchard: Thanks, Ray. We love you.
Hear the other songs they dug through on Setlist Insider.
Meanwhile catch The Kooks as they play a variety of shows and festivals this summer including Reading and Leeds. Get tickets on The Kooks website.
The Kooks Never/Know Tour 2025
Jul 12 – Glasgow Green, Glasgow, UK
Jul 19 – Deichbrand Festival, Wurster Nordseeküste, Germany
Jul 26 – Low Festival, Benidorm, Spain
Jul 30 – Auditorio Starlite, Marbella
Aug 9 – Grape Festival, Trenčín, Slovakia
Aug 15 – Pukkelpop, Hasselt, Belgium
Aug 16 – FN:POP, Friedrichshafen, Germany
Aug 17 – Highfield Festival, Großpösna, Germany
Aug 22 – Richfield Avenue, Reading, UK
Aug 23 – Bramham Park, Leeds, UK
Aug 24 – V and B Fest, Château‑Gontier, France
Oct 3 – Co‑op Live, Manchester, UK
Oct 4 – Utilita Arena Cardiff, Cardiff, UK
Oct 5 – The Brighton Centre, Brighton, UK
Oct 9 – Utilita Arena Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
Oct 10 – Utilita Arena Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
Oct 11 – The O2, London, UK
