Lately I think Penn seems more like L.A.’s infamous Chateau Marmont than an Ivy League school, what with all the celebrities that have crashed here recently. First there was Kate Walsh this weekend (see previous post), and yesterday The Kooks gave a free mini-concert on College Green at 1:30 p.m. 

The messy-haired British foursome (who, my friend and I concluded, must have poured olive oil all over their hair and then stuck their heads in a washing machine to achieve the desired look) had an actual concert last night in Philly, which was their initial reason for visiting. However, two of them, singer/guitarist Luke and bassist Hugh, were kind enough to pop by Penn to give students a little acoustic lovin’.

Being an acoustic performance, I wouldn’t have noticed their existence had some aggressive, flyer-wielding girl not attacked me on Locust a few minutes prior. When my friend and I approached the almost-awkwardly-intimate crowd, full of cross-legged hipsters bopping to the beat, The Kooks (well, 50% of them, anyway – the Kos?) were in the middle of an awesome rendition of “She Moves in Her Own Way.”

As great as all the songs were, I’d say the highlight of the performance was when some smart-ass in the audience yelled, “Play ‘Wonderwall!’” – and they did, turning towards the kid in a faux-serenade and proclaiming him to be their wonderwall.

The performance had a chill and relaxed vibe (so chill, in fact, that the bassist stopped playing in the middle of the second or third song to smoke a cigarette), providing a nice breather for Penn students (most of whom could benefit from a relaxing mid-day concert, or an intense meditation session, every once in a while).