Kooks frontman Luke Pritchard has revealed the surprise reason why Rebel Wilson joined the band during their set at Reading Festival.
The musician, 40, left fans shocked when he welcomed the n actress, 45, on stage to sing a rendition of Gangsta’s Paradise on Friday.
Videos of the set have since gone viral on social media, but Luke as now admitted they only rehearsed an hour before.
Giving an insight into how the unlikely collaboration came to fruition, he told PA news agency: ‘Our Hollywood friend I mean, she’s wicked. We’re like good friends now.
‘She just reached out, she wanted to get some cutaways for her film and then I was like, why don’t we do a song because I know she’s great singer, obviously a performer.
‘We had 12 hours so we thought, you know, just give it a go. And she was brilliant. I mean, we barely rehearsed it, just in our dressing room, an hour before the show.’
Kooks frontman Luke Pritchard has revealed the surprise reason why Rebel Wilson joined the band during their set at Reading Festival
The musician, 40, left fans shocked when he welcomed the n actress, 45, on stage to sing a rendition of Gangsta’s Paradise on Friday
Luke added: ‘Then she came in, she already had it down. And, yes, it’s just a bit of fun, you know, in the crowd. I mean, she’s so popular. We were the backup.’
The Brighton-formed band, formed of Luke, Hugh Harris on guitar and Alexis Nunez on drums, returned to play Reading Festival on Friday for the first time in seven years.
Luke said: ‘It went bloody well. It was really good. I feel a little emotional about it really. It felt like a bit of homecoming.
‘We haven’t played in the UK for a while. And just the young people, you know, it’s like, amazing. It’s like a lot of young people in the front and they gave a lot of energy, got a lot of love.
‘So, I mean, can’t complain, really, those old songs are still going down like they’re fresh. We feel very grateful.’
The group first performed at Reading and Leeds festival in 2006 and then again in 2018.
The band formed in Brighton in 2005, releasing their debut album, Inside In/Inside Out, in 2006, which reached number two in the UK chart, followed by 2008’s Konk which became the group’s first number one album in the UK.
Giving an insight into how the unlikely collaboration came to fruition, he told PA news agency: ‘She wanted to get some cutaways for her film and then I was like, why don’t we do a song’
He added: ‘She was brilliant. I mean, we barely rehearsed it, just in our dressing room, an hour before the show’
Luke added: ‘It almost feels like another life actually. I think life – you should allow it to be seasonal. And I think that was a season. It was amazing and intense and we made some really cool music and that but I’m just all about the future.
‘We’re doing an arena tour at the biggest arenas we’ve ever played in the UK, you know, and that’s 20 years in.
‘It feels really good and we feel like ready, which seems like a long time, but I think we could have done those kind of sized rooms on our first album, but we didn’t feel confident.
‘It’s a whole different style of performance and everything. But now I think we feel ready to take that on.’
In April the band announced a UK arena tour with concerts in London, Manchester, Cardiff, Brighton, Newcastle and Birmingham throughout October.
After the announcement, the group released their seventh studio album, Never/Know, which peaked at number five in the UK album charts.
Reading and Leeds festival continues on Saturday August 23 with a line-up that includes Chappell Roan, Hozier, Rudimental, Becky Hill and Conan Gray.