{"id":520677,"date":"2026-03-05T16:51:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T16:51:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/520677\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T16:51:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T16:51:13","slug":"the-kooks-to-play-the-great-escape-show-presented-by-nme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/520677\/","title":{"rendered":"The Kooks to play The Great Escape show presented by NME"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/the-kooks\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The Kooks<\/a> will play a special spotlight show for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/festivals\/the-great-escape\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The Great Escape<\/a>\u2018s 20th anniversary, proudly presented by NME.<\/p>\n<p>READ MORE:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/the-kooks-interview-new-album-never-know-luke-pritchard-tiktok-3833349\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The Kooks on \u201cpositive\u201d and \u201cromantic\u201d 2025 album \u2018Never\/Know\u2019: \u201cIt\u2019s such a guitar record, but it\u2019s also got a modernity to it\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The British indie icons became one of The Great Escape\u2019s first breakthrough acts, playing the very first edition of the Brighton festival in 2006. That was the same year they released their seminal debut album \u2018Inside In\/Inside Out\u2019, which would produce some of The Kooks\u2019 greatest hits, including \u2018Na\u00efve\u2019, \u2018She Moves In Her Own Way\u2019 and \u2018Seaside\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>Now, two decades on from their Great Escape debut, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/events\/uk\/brighton\/nme-presents-the-great-escape-20th-anniversary-spotlight-show-the-kooks\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The Kooks will play a special \u2018Spotlight\u2019 show for the festival, presented by NME<\/a>. Supported by Irish\/Cornish band Girl In The Year Above, the show is set to take place on TGE Beach on May 13, the first day of the festival. Standalone tickets will soon be available to purchase: Presale begins on March 10, followed by general sale on March 13 \u2013 <a href=\"http:\/\/greatescapefestival.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">get yours here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3833351\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/kooks_new_2025_1.jpg\" alt=\"The Kooks, 2025. Credit: Press\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1270\"  \/>The Kooks, 2025. Credit: Press<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBrighton always feels like coming home in a way no other city does. The Great Escape is special because it\u2019s fundamentally about music happening in rooms where you can feel people breathing,\u201d The Kooks\u2019 Luke Pritchard said of the upcoming show.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s something really powerful about when the distance between the band and the crowd just disappears. It always takes us back to the beginning and why we started this in the first place. I hope people leave feeling like they caught something rare, we can\u2019t wait to see you there!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>NME Managing Editor (Music) Karen Gwee also said: \u201cWe\u2019re thrilled to partner with The Great Escape to celebrate two decades of music discovery \u2013 and to bring The Kooks back to the festival for a special show in a full-circle moment. Here\u2019s to 20 years of new music and many more ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-3932828\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/tge-nme-the-kooks-2026.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1080\" height=\"1350\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>So far, the festival has also announced Irish indie-folk band Kingfishr and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/peaches-to-headline-great-escape-2026-spotlight-show-130-new-artists-announced-3927331\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">electroclash pioneer Peaches<\/a> to play Spotlight shows, on May 14 and 15 respectively.<\/p>\n<p>Adult DVD, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/lauren-auder\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Lauren Auder<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/dead-dads-club\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Dead Dad\u2019s Club<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/sunflower-bean\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sunflower Bean<\/a>\u2018s Julia Cumming, Legss, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/features\/music-interviews\/maddie-ashman-her-side-interview-radar-3927070\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Maddie Ashman<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/features\/music-interviews\/oversize-interview-vital-signs-radar-3841754\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Oversize<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/the-orielles\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The Orielles<\/a>, Bella Barbe, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/wesley-joseph\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Wesley Joseph<\/a> and Bug Teeth are some of the many acts also revealed today (March 5) to play The Great Escape, the UK\u2019s leading festival for new music discovery.<\/p>\n<p>They join <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/blue-bendy\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Blue Bendy<\/a>, Chinese American Bear, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/elle-coves\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Elle Coves<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/frozemode\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Frozemode<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/girl-group\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Girl Group<\/a>, Haute &amp; Freddy, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/heartworms\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Heartworms<\/a>, KEO, Lord Apex, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/ratbag\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Ratbag<\/a>, Silverwingkiller, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/features\/music-interviews\/sword-ii-electric-hour-interview-radar-3891209\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sword II<\/a>, Truthpaste, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/villanelle\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Villanelle<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/westside-cowboy\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Westside Cowboy<\/a> and plenty more previously announced to appear at The Great Escape this year. See the latest line-up below:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-3932826\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/TGE-line-up-2026.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1080\" height=\"1350\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>Last week, The Great Escape announced that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/mel-c-joins-speakers-at-the-great-escape-2026-3931318\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">speakers at its conference would include former Spice Girl Mel C and Ian Murrap MP<\/a>, a minister at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Kooks will play a special spotlight show for the The Great Escape\u2018s 20th anniversary, proudly presented by&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":520678,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[64,63,134,11254,136],"class_list":["post-520677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-live-music-news","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=520677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520677\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/520678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=520677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=520677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=520677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}