The Kooks Rck'n' Roll Circus

First up is local girl Grace Calver, she has a few banging tunes in her locker and appears confident enough as she takes to the stage with full band in tow. Quirky and joyful Indie / pop songs fill the stage as the punters start to stream in and she delivers a good show to kick the day off in fine fashion.

First up in the tent are Cruz Beckham & The Breakers and they are afforded an hour slot, rather unusually for this time of the day. Put the famous surname aside and give the lad some credit because he can play a bit and has a decent voice as well. The place swells and I wonder if it’s more out of curiosity rather than appreciation of his music, but maybe the one hundred thousand Spotify followers confirm that it’s the latter? Either way, he has proven during the last sixty minutes, that he can hold his own and he’s warranted the time that’s been afforded to him and his band, I am sure that others have left the tent feeling the same way too.

Leazes from Newcastle keep us very entertained for a while; they have some great tunes and have more than warranted their nine-hour trip down to Norfolk.

The hill is alive with people dancing around the moment they start their set, it looks like they have brought a good following with them, and it really helps to create a fabulous atmosphere, with everyone really enjoying themselves. They have already supported the likes of The Enemy and are soon to also be supporting McFly next weekend in their home city. The Geordie ‘Foo Fighters’ look like they really do mean business, so we had better watch out.

The Clause from Birmingham have arrived with a fast-growing reputation and judging by the swell in numbers that are now in here, they will need to deliver and they do. They are right on cue; there’s no messing about as they get down to business. It’s an impressive set and their followers are having a great time by the looks of it as their slot goes down very well indeed.

Milburn have also had an horrendous journey down here from Sheffield, but to their hardcore fans it has very clearly been well worthwhile, fans have travelled from all over the UK for this show, their first gig in two years. They are celebrating the twentieth anniversary of their debut album Well Well Well. Just two more albums followed on when they were originally together before they split up. it’s a good outing and one that has clearly delighted those that went beyond the call to come and see them in Norwich today, hopefully they’ll be back with some new material and more gigs soon.

The Fratellis have most certainly gone to town in their planning and preparation for tonight’s show as they have a horn section and three very lively backing singers with them, it’s also been twenty years sings their debut album, Costello Music was released and it was one that without doubt produced many an indie anthem, tracks such as Henrietta, Flathead and Whistle For The Choir and they all get a rather crazy reaction this afternoon.

They do throw us a curve ball three tracks in when they deliver a version of Baccara’s, Yes Sir, I Can Boogie and it gets the place pumped up, I mean who doesn’t like a DISCO tune.

In between the undoubted bangers it all feels rather flat with very little interaction from singer John Lawler aka Jon Fratelli, but they do then pull the lull back round at their close, as it’s time for Chelsea Dagger and that really does raise the roof.

The Kairos from that fine City of Liverpool bang out one track after another during a very lively eye-catching performance, reminding me very much of The View in their heyday.

Their debut album isn’t too far away hopefully meanwhile we have to be content with Kneeslappas, their current six-track EP.

All year I have been searching for something new and special and in The Kairos, I may have just found what I have been looking for. The good news is that they are back in Norwich supporting The Snuts on the 29th of November and I for one cannot wait for that. They have previously supported both Red Rum Club and The Reytons. The future looks very bright for these lads, and this could well be their moment to shine bright.

With The Vaccines you just know that they are always going to pack a big punch and boy oh boy do they do that tonight, they are on scintillating form.

They enter the stage to the booming restrains of The Ramones, Do You Remember Rock ‘n’ Roll Radio and the vibe is suddenly quite electric, with people pogoing. The room is pumped up immediately and ready to go. Let’s go.

They start proceedings with Blow It Up and head straight into Wreckin Bar (Ra Ra Ra), Post Break-Up Sex, Wetsuit, A Lack Of Understanding, Norgaard, All In White and If You Wanna. Wow, just wow! Do you get the picture?

They have been damn right amazing, what a quite sensational show from the band and for me it’s most definitely been the performance of the weekend so far without doubt, it’s been breathtakingly brilliant. The place is red hot; they have quite literally blown the roof off of the tent! What tent? What roof?

But then, what did you really expect from The Vaccines?

The Kooks are back in our fine City, and Norfolk is a place that frontman Luke Pritchard has in the past been very complimentary about, indeed some of their 2011 album, Junk Of The Heart was written here while visiting friends.

They were last seen performing in Norwich back in 2022, on this very same patch of grass, and that was a very good night, so will this evening live up to the billing and how on earth do you follow The Vaccines epic performance that has just whet the appetites of the Kooks fans that are now packing out the big top?

The stage set up is looking pretty cool with a giant screen that’s packed full of Kooks footage form over the years on constant play.

Pritchard and the band are looking as cool and dapper as ever, his usual skinny frame bouncing around frantically, full of energy and enthusiasm.

It’s also been twenty years since they released their debut album Inside In / Inside Out and of course we get treated to many of the classics from that such as Seaside (mass singalong ensues), Sofa Sing, She Moves In Her Own Way, Ooh La and a rousing rendition of Jackie Big Tits, that see’s the band joined on stage by no other Cruz Beckham. Every track sounds as fresh as a daisy, but then class is permanent isn’t it and for this band, class has become their middle name.

But it’s the even fresher sounds of the likes of Junk Of The Heart, Bad Habit, Around Town, Do You Wanna and Westside that really light up the room, the band are still sounding joyful and yet edgy at the same time.

He turns things down a bit when he plays If You Could See Me Now, with just Pritchard on stage at the piano and we are informed that it’s a song about his late father, the phone torches are on. It’s a heartfelt touching moment and time to calm things down for a minute or two. But things are soon lively in here once again as they bring an excellent show to a close with Naïve with everyone once again in fine voice.

He repeatedly thanks the crowd for the love and support that is emanating from the park, and we are reminded once again that they always enjoy coming to Norwich, which is good because we always enjoy seeing them too.

It’s been great to see them once again, hopefully they will soon be able to once again capture this fine form back in the recording studio.

So that’s my weekend at the Rock N Roll Circus fully wrapped up and it’s been thoroughly enjoyable, we are so blessed to have this music event on our doorstep, hopefully it will return again in 2027. Big thanks to all of the team that have put this on.