Koko
Train: Camden Road (10 mins) Euston (10 mins) St. Pancras (12 mins)
Tube: Mornington Crescent (2 mins)
Reviewed events
Autolux at London Koko, Fri 22 Apr
Onstage the band transpire, and kick out volumes of noise. Ridiculous amounts of noise; for a trio. But it’s not pointless noise, it sounds new and fresh whilst retaining just enough soul and shape to be pop, and it drips with the absolute melting-ice cool of Sonic Youth and Velvet Underground.»
Elbow at London Koko, Tue 06 Sep
Elbow:- Not so much from rags to riches as having fallen into luck, armed with an astonishingly uplifting honesty; these are songs written ‘like they used to be’ and there’s no broader compliment to offer.»
Mudhoney at London Koko, Sat 17 Sep
The second of Mudhoney’s Don’t Look Back shows follows the exact same trajectory as the previous evenings’, i.e. they play Superfuzz Bigmuff from start to finish straying not once from the predetermined route...»
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion at London Koko, Wed 21 Sep
The band with a penchant for shouting their name every five seconds rip through their 1994 album Orange as part of the Don't Look Back series. Warning: this article contains theremin and Bush baiting.»
Richard Hawley at London Koko, Wed 16 Nov
Still under the radar after three and a half towering albums, Richard Hawley is a master of lived in vintage songcraft. It’s a talent that lies somewhere between his hero, Johnny Cash, and his former employers, Pulp. He makes bruised, ordinary real life beautiful. »
The Go! Team, The Grates, Smoosh at London Koko, Wed 01 Mar
Tom Evans joins The Go! Team at the first of three back-to-back sold-out Koko appearances; with their prime fanbase at their feet, the band take the opportunity to sample a considerable amount of new material. Smoosh and The Grates add the proceedings and DiS comes away pretty happy with itself...»
Sonic Mook Presents Camden Crawl After Party at London Koko, Thu 20 Apr
In short: If I hear another Heat reading retard tell me the, somewhat rapidedly-aged-by-drink-and-drugs, singer is going out with the sixteen year old Peaches Geldof I'm gonna stick needles covered in AIDS all over Shoreditch 'til these fuckers are eradicated.»
Spoon, The New Pornographers at London Koko, Tue 16 May
’We’re the New Pornographers…Check this shit out’ A.C Newman, front man of the Canadian superish group gingerly states. Whilst The Raconteurs despise the tag, The New Pornographers are something of an understated collective - like a musical Waltons wi»
The Brian Jonestown Massacre at London Koko, Wed 28 Jun
I love the BJM!!! But I must confess I was a bit disappointed. Sometimes I think that too much attitude is not beneficial to the music. There were too many 'Dig' moments and that's not what I was there for. I was there for the music! Of course, there w»
Low, Bat For Lashes at London Koko, Wed 26 Jul
Natasha Khan - for it is she that hides behind the Bat For Lashes nom de plume - projects a persona of absolute kookiness: the glittering facial adornments, the awkward body shape as she floats from position to position on Koko's sizeable stage, the way she mumbles commands between songs, most of which fall upon deaf ears. Yet her music is anything but trivial or incongruous...»
The Rocks at London Koko, Fri 20 Oct
Having never been to a Club NME night before this was always going to be one hell of an expierence. But ones the night got going »
Jarvis Cocker at London Koko, Wed 15 Nov
Last night, Wednesday 15 November 2006, the King of Pop returned. He took to the stage in a London venue, far smaller than those h»
My Vitriol at London Koko, Fri 24 Nov
Ok, so the nay sayers and haters have been saying myvitriol will never return, but here they are, and after nearly four years of d»
Peeping Tom at London Koko, Sun 26 Nov
The most-hated act on Patton and company’s radar is Wolfmother: they hate Wolfmother. And what does this have to do with Peeping Tom’s music on the night. Nothing, directly, but that these moments of artist-to-crowd-and-back-again banter comprise highlights, well, it tells you something about the consistency of Peeping Tom’s performance...»
...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, Forget Cassettes at London Koko, Tue 20 Feb
‘A Perfect Teenhood’ seems to have lasted forever. Up here in the heavens we don’t mind, but the pit-goers down the front must be tiring by now, surely. The sweat on their brows sends beams of light racing across Koko’s insides with greater speed and franticness than the epic-proportioned disco ball that spins above everyone’s head. One day it’ll fall and kill thousands; And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead are doing their absolute utmost to bring the fucker crashing to earth...»
Explosions In The Sky at London Koko, Thu 01 Mar
Within the bubble the man’s cigarette smoke smells as sweet as the freshest roses; on the inside looking out, the throng that moves, as if in slow motion, to what’s unfolding – sonically, aurally, whateverly – upon the stage at which we all stare, isn’t a distraction but an embellishment...»
Bright Eyes at London Koko, Fri 16 Mar
My wife (whose views I have incorporated into this review) and I got there bright and early. We're too old now for the downstairs »
Interpol at London Koko, Tue 15 May
It had been awhile since i saw Interpol, but without a doubt, they did what they did best and just be themselves AND sound immense»
Cornelius at London Koko, Wed 23 May
Cornelius first appears on stage as nothing more than a silhouette until the words “Welcome to the Cornelius Synchronised Road Show” flash across the screen. It all comes tumbling down in a blinding flash of light and noise only to reveal the man himself standing there dressed as an extra from A Clockwork Orange – bowler hat and all...»
Blonde Redhead, Maps, Sleeping States at London Koko, Wed 30 May
A fringed character bathed in shadow is slinking about the stage like an eerie puppet with Björk drunk at the controls, or like the girl that crawls out of the telly in Ring, her ethereal moan accentuating the jewelled tips of a gliding musical panorama which ushers you down into a world of exquisite sadness. The lady in question is Kazu Makino, the band is Blonde Redhead...»
New Young Pony Club – Koko, Camden Town June 6th
First things first, then: we really need to address this new rave thing, ‘cause that’s what you’re thinking as soon as you see the New Young Pony Club name...»
Ryan Adams at London Koko, Thu 07 Jun
Tonight’s set is criminally short, performed in an overheated, oversold venue with less sightlines for the crowd than is surely morally acceptable, even for the most unscrupulous venue owner...»
Isis at London Koko, Mon 02 Jul
Timing’s a gem: through the door, down the slope, on the stairs, at the bar, cup o’ booze in clasped palm, onto floor, boom. Boris and Oxbow are missed, sadly – late nights at the office are now so commonplace that leaving on time just feels weird – but Isis are tonight’s trump card anyway, rightly topping a bill that could be neatly summarised but one way: incredible...»
Don't Look Back 2007 at London Koko, Wed 22 Aug
Rather cheeringly, the folk at ATP are on a quest to rid Camden's potentially fantastic Koko venue of its many shortcomings...»
Justice at London Koko, Thu 06 Sep
Vroom-vroom-voom-vroom... The following pulse of beats grabs you by the ass cheeks and take the lead. Whips of noise hook every other member of the crowd’s heads, flinging them around bends and over jumps on Mario Kart...»
The New Pornographers at London Koko, Thu 04 Oct
“We're doing, like, four countries in four days – which can fuck you up more than any drugs.” AC's not complaining mind, but it does go to explain the New P's slightly subdued on-stage presence...»
Battles, Parts & Labor at London Koko, Thu 11 Oct
Heart beats double-time back here – TV screen the only eye on a stage hidden by bouncing bodies too many to brave a forward rush. Still, contentment rolls into excitement; rolls into knee-jerk joy: Battles would sound awesome if the listener were stuck in the foyer. Of a building across the street...»
!!!, Holy Fuck at London Koko, Wed 07 Nov
After the last song, !!!'s Nic Offer leads his bandmates in a goodbye from the road that sounds ominously like a final farewell, although we’re assured it isn’t. Let’s hope they do make it back»
Alexander Tucker, Vic Chesnutt at London Koko, Mon 19 Nov
'You Are Never Alone' is a lovely, loungey respite from the bloated booming, and showcases the beautiful range of Vic Chesnutt’s voice by easing up a bit and letting the song take centre place. Sadly, that aside, the most exciting thing about the set is seeing Guy Picciotto on stage, even if he isn’t playing anything interesting.»
Club NME at London Koko, Fri 25 Jan
Amazing is an understatement....they tore up the place with pure energy!!!! The most livey vibrant 5 piece to hit London...definit»
British Sea Power, These New Puritans at London Koko, Thu 31 Jan
Tonight is the finest performance I've seen by British Sea Power in a very long time. Woody is returned from a back injury, providing the mettle beneath Martin's muscular guitar and Scott and brother Neil's bass and vocal swapping»
Of Montreal at London Koko, Thu 16 Oct
Make as many scathing comparisons to Jake Shears as you like, there’s no escaping the fact that of Montreal are one of the most brilliantly, ridiculously over the top live acts around.»
Jenny Lewis, Benji Hughes at London Koko, Fri 17 Oct
There are points tonight in Jenny Lewis' show where it seems like, thanks to the wonder of the time travel TV set and the lap steel singing like a Mogwai, I've stepped into a honky tonk. Did I trip through a worm hole and end up in 1971?»
Low at London Koko, Wed 19 Nov
It’s a special time of year, when Alan Sparhawk doesn’t tell the people to Shut Up who are yelling four-letter words (okay, so those are the titles of songs they want), and instead invites requests.»
