All OG Outer Banks fans know that even with a soundtrack packed with beachy jams, there’s one track that stands out as the show’s true anthem: alt-J’s “Left Hand Free.” So it’s only right that the band played that very song live onstage at the show’s immersive fan event, Poguelandia, in Huntington Beach, California, on Saturday, Feb. 18. At the live music event, alt-J was among an all-star lineup that included the Nude Party, Elley Duhé, Surf Mesa, Lil Baby and Khalid. 

“We had a blast at Poguelandia,” alt-J tells Tudum. “The cast, crew and fans were all so welcoming. It made us realize we’re part of something really big and very special.”

Way back in Season 1, the track set the tone for the adventure series, playing alongside John B (Chase Stokes), Kiara (Madison Bailey), JJ (Rudy Pankow) and Pope (Jonathan Daviss) running out of a private construction site in the first few minutes of the pilot. The song went viral on TikTok not long after the first season premiered in 2020, with even Stokes getting in on the action. 

“‘Left Hand Free’ has always felt like something of an anthem for good times spent outdoors with the crew,” alt-J says. “In fact, the video we made for it back in 2014 could be a clip from OBX — people floating down a river, beers in hand.”

The band took to the stage after a very special introduction from Stokes, Pankow and “King Kook” himself, Ward Cameron — aka Charles Esten, who came out wearing a shirt that in fact had the words “King Kook” on it, topped by an image of a little crown. (“I made the guys laugh with it,” Esten tells Tudum. “It might make a good Father’s Day gift.”) Stokes claimed that the Pogues were calling a truce with Esten’s Kook clan for one day only in honor of Poguelandia, before he, Esten and Pankow sang the opening lines of “Left Hand Free” a cappella, much to the delight of the crowd. “Ain’t shady, baby, I’m hot, like the prodigal son…”

As alt-J closed their set with the hit song, fans sang along and tossed around huge beach balls with the Poguelandia chicken on them while members of the cast, including Carlacia Grant (Cleo), danced in the front row.

Honorary Pogues at this point, alt-J say they feel a kinship with their newfound community of Outer Banks fans. “They like to party hard. This is something we can get behind.”

 Season 3 of Outer Banks is now streaming.