Koo Koo returns to Hampton Roads for the first time since its 2015 Warped Tour stop

The Minnesota dance-party duo once known as Koo Koo Kanga Roo plays a Sunday-afternoon show at Norfolk's Annex on Jan. 10, eleven summers after its last local appearance.

The last time Koo Koo played Hampton Roads, it was July 8, 2015, the band was still called Koo Koo Kanga Roo, and it was one of dozens of acts on the Vans Warped Tour's Virginia Beach stop at what's now the Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater. The kids who danced along that day are grown now. Some of them have kids of their own.

That's the crowd this show is built for. Koo Koo plays The Annex in Norfolk on Sunday, Jan. 10, 2027, at 1 p.m., a family-matinee time with no late night required. Tickets are $24.01 through eTix. The date was announced Oct. 23.

If the name is new to you, the act isn't. Koo Koo is the Minnesota duo formerly known as Koo Koo Kanga Roo), a kids' pop, EDM and hip-hop act whose shows are basically giant dance-alongs: two guys on stage leading the room through call-and-response moves, and a crowd of kids and adults dancing together. CBS Minnesota summed up their appeal with a quote: their songs "can hit all kinds of generations." Their most recent full album on record is 2021's *Slow Clap*, and they release music only digitally.

The Warped Tour years are what make this act unusual. Koo Koo Kanga Roo was added to the 2015 Warped lineup alongside pop-punk and metalcore bands. Pollstar's 2015 routing put the Virginia Beach date on July 8, when the amphitheater still had its Farm Bureau Live name. A SLUG Magazine writer who caught them on that tour called them a party-music duo with appeal broad enough for a young child. That was the trick: a kids' act that could hold a stage full of teenagers in eyeliner.

Eleven years later, the kids from the Warped crowd are bringing their own.

The room is a different scale this time, and that's a good thing. The Annex opened in 2024 in the old Five Points Farmers Market space at 2500 Church Street. It's the project of longtime local promoter Josh Coplon and the team behind veteran-owned Young Veterans Brewing Company. A sweaty amphitheater lawn in July is one thing. A Sunday-afternoon club show in January, small enough that every kid can see the stage, is a much better way to do a Koo Koo set.

A few practical notes: wear shoes you can jump in, and know that the dancing isn't optional for long. If your crew includes small ears, bring hearing protection. And if you were at that Warped date in 2015, this is your chance to show your kids you weren't making it up.

Sources: Koo Koo (duo) — Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org); Meet the Minnesota duo Koo Koo Kanga Roo (CBS Minnesota) (cbsnews.com); Transit, Black Veil Brides & more added to 2015 Warped Tour (nocountryfornewnashville.com); Vans Warped Tour: The Road To Warped (Pollstar) (news.pollstar.com); Koo Koo Kanga Roo on Warped Tour (SLUG Magazine) (slugmag.com); The Annex set to open (VEER Magazine) (veermag.com); The Annex, new music venue in Norfolk, opening Thursday night (WAVY) (wavy.com); Koo Koo at The Annex — eTix (etix.prf.hn)