The Kooks - Open Air 2026

They are perhaps the most defining indie-rock band of our time: nearly 20 years ago, The Kooks shook up the British music scene - and they have not lost their shine to this day.

It all started in the early 2000s in picturesque Brighton. The founding members around vocalist Luke Pritchard and guitarist Hugh Harris met during their music studies and wrote over 100 songs in just a few months. Inspired by a David Bowie song, they took the name The Kooks - the eccentrics, the crazy ones.

And they lived up to that name. After just three months as a band, they secured their first record deal with Virgin Records. In 2006, their debut album "Inside In / Inside Out" was released, which became a surprise success, bringing them quintuple platinum status and the MTV Award for best British act. Two years later came "Konk", with which The Kooks stormed the top of the British charts and firmly established themselves as a permanent fixture on the indie scene.

Before their third album "Junk Of The Heart" (2011), the band retreated to a farm to escape the hustle and bustle of success, before experimenting with "Listen" (2014), an album full of soul, gospel and folk influences. In 2018, the band returned to their indie roots with "Let's Go Sunshine". Eventually, Luke Pritchard moved to Berlin, where he wrote the songs for "10 Tracks To Echo In The Dark", released in 2022, during the pandemic. A more mature album that combines classic Kooks elements with themes of lost love, late-night parties and his new role as a father. In spring 2025, their seventh studio album "Never/Know" followed.