I’m going to be honest upfront- my expectations going into the Kooks show Saturday night were pretty low. While the band’s tuneful debut Inside In/ Inside Out still stands as one the most memorable British indie rock albums of last decade, generic its been years since they’ve put out anything particularly interesting. I’ll admit it, I assumed that this would be a lazy cash-grab. As such, I was very pleasantly surprised by the gracious, lively and excellent-sounding set that Luke Pritchard and co. threw down. Though the new material still sounded pretty rubbish in a live setting, the lads focused on old crowd pleasers and had the sold out Paradise Rock Club happily singing along.

The Kooks are touring in support of their new album Listen, which, much like its predecessor Junk of the Heart, tries to incorporate some interesting musical concepts but fails to capture the madcap energy of their early material. While it’s admirable that the group is stepping out of their comfort zone and trying their hand at soulful and hip-hop-centric numbers, they never quite pull together a great track. To their credit, the group put full effort into these numbers and seemed to be really excited about the new direction, but the audience never really got into it.

Thankfully, the set was built primarily around Inside In and the better cuts off of Konk, and I’m happy to report that this stuff still sounds excellent. While half of the group has left since these songs came out, all of the tracks, from lovelorn ballad “Seaside” to erectile disfunction anthem “Eddie’s Gun,” had the same power they did eight years ago. While many groups at this stage in their career care more about pushing the new stuff, the Kooks were intent on crowd-pleasing, never going two songs without belting into another classic. In fact, notable omission “Jackie Big Tits” aside, they covered all the hits and the popular deep cuts. The crowd lapped it up. At even the first notes of “Ooh La” and closing number “Naive,” hands started shooting in the air and girls started screaming. Say what you will about the Kooks, but they still know how to put on a show.

On that note, I have to give credit to the incredible presence of Luke Pritchard. While the frontman’s abrasive public image and never ending string of feuds have painted a pretty negative picture of him, none of that prissiness was on show here. Pritchard was incredibly gracious for band’s continued following, and took every chance he could to tell the audience how much he appreciated them. This positivity shone through in his performance too- his breathy drawl sounded positively album-quality, and any time he was freed of his guitar he’d run to the side of the stage to greet fans and psych up the crowd. The quality of his recent output aside, Pritchard is still an honest-to-god rockstar, and to see someone so earnestly ham it up while holding a set together was a joy.

While it feels unfairly dismissive to talk about an eight-year-old group like a nostalgia act, at the end of the day that’s what this felt like. I mean this in the best possible way though- this was a band that was aware of what its fans came for and played to this admirably. While it remains to be seen whether the Kooks can achieve artistic relevance again, older fans can be assured that their live show is still absolutely worth catching.