ONE of Brighton’s biggest bands of the past 20 years wowed the crowds at a popular family festival.
The Kooks took to the stage at Camp Bestival in Dorset and showed they were good value for their headline spot for the opening night.
They made a triumphant appearance last on the main Castle Stage, showing they can still draw a huge crowd of thousands.
In the idyllic surroundings of Dorset's Lulworth Castle, they played to fans old and new at the family festival.
They were greeted on stage by cheers and screams for the song Seaside from the off. Frontman Luke Pritchard reassured the fans that they would play it, joking that "it was in the contract" for the show and that he loved playing it anyway.
Other older songs to go down a storm included She Moves in Her Own Way and Naive, which closed the performance in front of a happy audience.
Originally meeting at BIMM Institute Brighton, The Kooks formed in 2004. They enjoyed great success with their debut album Inside In/Inside Out and have retained a strong fanbase, continuing to release music.
They played at the festival as part of a set of summer gigs and have been very well received.
They told the crowd at Camp Bestival they loved appearing there and had brought their own families to the event.
Their Friday headline act slot was followed by Grace Jones on the Saturday and Craig David on the Sunday before an amazing light show and fireworks extravaganza at the end of the event, celebrating the festival's 'Animal Snap" theme.
Other highlights from the weekend included Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Sam Ryder and The Bootleg Beatles.
The festival included the Caravanserai performance area which many will know from the Brighton Fringe in May near St Peter’s Church in York Place. Revellers could sit in the caravans and watch the entertaining bands hosted there, with the Old Time Sailors proving huge crowd-pleasers.
Camp Bestival is justifiably billed as the UK's ultimate family festival, having won Best Family Festival at the UK Festival Awards six times.
Camp Bestival also includes yoga, Tai Chi, circus skills and other entertainment for young children in whole fields of attractions dedicated to them. Teenagers could party the days and nights away in the Bollywood and Big Top tents to the likes of Dick and Dom Djing.
The sister festival Camp Bestival Shropshire event takes place in Weston Park from 17 – 20 August, whilst Early Bird Weekend Camping tickets for Camp Bestival Dorset 2024 will go on sale frozen at this year’s prices on Friday, August 4 at 10am. See campbestival.net
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