“Some of best crowds are in the north”: The Kooks frontman on headlining Sheffield's Rock n Roll Circus
“If you think about the Arctic Monkeys and us, we’re the same age, but all the other bands in the scene were a bit older”
With just over a week to go until Rock n Roll Circus at Don Valley Bowl, The Star spoke to lead singer of The Kooks, Luke Pritchard, ahead of their much-anticipated headline performance.
Opening the festival, which takes place over Bank Holiday weekend from Thursday 27 to Sunday 30 August, The Kooks are excited to return to Sheffield alongside what organisers have described as the strongest line-up yet.
Pritchard said: “Some of the best crowds in the world are in the north of England. Some get a bit out of hand, but it's passionate, you know? It's amazing.
“It's funny when you first go (to Sheffield) being a southerner, and then after the song they're doing ‘Yorkshire, Yorkshire’ and I remember the first time thinking, is this a good thing or do they kind of want us to go off? But actually, it's a really good thing.”
The Kooks are opening this year’s festival with a celebration of their debut album ‘Inside In / Inside Out’ in full to mark its 20th anniversary. With the defining indie tracks ‘Naive’ and ‘She Moves In Her Own Way’, it promises a standout opening-night performance.
Reflecting on playing the album 20 years later, Pritchard said: “I always knew it's a possibility, but it's pretty weird to be here.
“If you think about the Arctic Monkeys and us, we’re the same age, but all the other bands in the scene were a bit older. We always felt like the younger ones.”
The Kooks will be joined by prominent 2000s Sheffield legends Milburn, indie favourite Miles Kane and Cruz Beckham and The Breakers. In their early days The Kooks used to listen to Milburn, now 20 years later they sit together on the same lineup.
“I'm really pleased that will be happening and I think it will give some real spirit to the audience there having one of their own.
“It’s great to be with bands that were part of the fabric of Sheffield when we were coming up and some of those guys used to come to our gigs when we played Sheffield.”
Speaking on The Kooks' early music influences, Pritchard spent many days in his youth listening to Sheffield indie bands.
“I was that guy who used to go to the library when you used to be able to get CDs and you'd rent them. I had the Pulp Common People record and I transferred it to tape. That was a record I played a lot, I liked his humour.
“I even sometimes slip into a little bit of the accent because of all the music I listened to. Like how Mick Jagger has an American twang, you know? It's a homage.”
The Kooks have their own defining sound and a series of tracks loved by generations, but the lead singer has a certain respect for the ‘tough, sensitive nature of those bands’.
Today they have connected with a whole new generation of music lovers with half of their audience aged 18-26, alongside their original mid-2000s fans.
“It's a trip because you can see people reliving their memories. Even some people that aren't even particularly lovers of the Kooks or even indie music, I think they get a hit of nostalgia and you see it for sure in the crowd.”
The band's last Sheffield performance was at The Leadmill in May 2025 for an intimate acoustic album launch. They are excited to return to the Steel City and are hoping for some ‘Yorkshire’ chants at Rock n Roll Circus.
“We're very honoured to be doing it. It's taken us really 20 years to be at the top of that kind of bill and we feel very grateful for that, so it's going to be a buzz.”
Anyone interested in catching The Kooks over Bank Holiday weekend can do so at http://rocknrollcircus.co.uk./