Photo:
“If you’re gonna wave your arms tonight, you’ve got to make sure you move your hips as well like this…” croons Alex Turner, swaying in front of the crowd whilst simultaneously eyeing up every woman in the first three rows of Camden’s Roundhouse. Suffice to say this showmanship wasn’t overly prominent when Arctic Monkeys first emerged in 2006, yet it inherently fits their new leather clad and dangerous aesthetic, along with the late night atmospherics of fifth album ‘AM’ which this week (and has clearly had some effect on the audience, as biker jacket and quiff combinations seem to wander to and from the bar whilst Drenge smash the support slot and push the venue's speakers to the limit).
Listen to the full audio from Arctic Monkeys' iTunes Festival gig below
This year’s Glastonbury headline slot was arguably a career defining moment for the Sheffield four piece (even if many thought Turner was channeling Elvis), and last night saw Arctic Monkeys condense that fan-pleasing setlist to a venue a fraction of the size. Entering to slowly building strings before erupting into the seductive ‘Do I Wanna Know?’, the first 45 minutes stuck closely to that night at Worthy Farm, powering through hits from all aspects of their career, with older tracks like ‘Dancing Shoes’ and ‘Teddy Picker’ given a suave new energy through the new twang to the illustrious frontman’s vocals, along with the pointing and repeated combing of ‘that’ hair.
After telling the crowd to “Wake the fuck up” (the somewhat placid audience being one of the drawbacks of having a gig full of competition winners), Monkeys’ indulged in long awaited new material, giving the likes of ‘Fireside’, ‘Snap Out Of It’, and the glam-rock infused ‘Arabella’ an airing (which rather surprisingly received a better reception than most other tracks over the night). Despite ‘AM’s overwhelmingly darker themes, the tracks seamlessly slipped in amongst self proclaimed “classics”, and hearing an (albeit Josh Homme-less) performance of ‘One For The Road’ immediately after breakthrough hit/indie disco staple ‘I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor’ somewhat defined Arctic Monkeys’ development over the last seven years.
After rolling though ‘R U Mine’ (which prompted the middle aged man next to me to indulge some intense air-guitaring), an encore of the effortlessly romantic ‘Suck It And See’ and a typically Miles Kane-assisted version of ‘505’ sealed the deal on the night and merely confirmed that Artic Monkeys aren’t just one of the tightest live bands at the moment, but one of Britain’s finest musical exports (or more specifically Sheffield, as 0114, the steel city’s dialing code adorned Helders’ drumkit from the offset). See you at Earl’s Court.
Below: 8 incredible photos of Arctic Monkeys headlining Glastonbury Festival
