The Kooks play a brand of pub-pop (something between pub-rock and brit-pop – think the Kinks meets Kings of Leon) that eschews subtlety in favor broad melodic strokes and bouncy mid-tempo singalongs. Floor-level patrons held camera phones high and mezzanine-dwellers dangled Chuck Taylor-adorned feet over the crowd as the Kooks m the stage and cracked Terminal 5 open with crowd-favorite “Always Where I Need to Be.”

The band captured and held their audience’s attention with tour-perfected nonchalance and schoolboy bravado, taking full advantage of Terminal 5’s sophisticated lighting technology and well-placed stage risers. This allowed singer Luke Pritchard to build momentum and anticipation to freshen up verses, choruses & bridges in different songs that would have otherwise blurred together.

The highlight was the extended version of “Do You Wanna” which saw the band slowing down and kicking in some strobe lighting and reverb for a long, slow bridge that had Pritchard running laps around the stage yelping “do you wanna make love to me?” and had every couple in the building smiling, dancing, embracing, and asking each other if they’d like to make love. Dancing + love making + smiling = a successful pop-rock show, and the Kooks left the stage with the same sly affability they’d exuded all night by saying “Shit, we gotta go. We’re the Kooks!”

Mark Shreve