Wednesday 14th May 2014 by Andrew Trendell | Photos by WENN / SPLASH / Rick Caughey

Seven things to expect from Arctic Monkeys' Finsbury Park shows

What's going to go down at their historic outdoor gigs?

Photo: WENN/SPLASH/Rick Caughey

The time is almost upon us. In just over a week, Arctic Monkeys will play their biggest non-festival UK headline shows to date with two nights at London's massive Finsbury Park. After a show-stopping and pretty historic headline set at Glastonbury last summer, one can't help but wonder where Alex Turner and co go from here?

With over 80,000 people to entertain over two nights, this is definitely one of the biggest challenges of their career. From four spotty lads from Yorkshire to indie rock's most dominant force, Arctic Monkeys have come a long way, but still have much to prove.

As Monkeys' fans around the country gear up to battle for tickets to the hottest event of 2014 so far, we take a look at what we should expect from Arctic Monkeys at Finsbury Park.

1. An epic (but modest) stage show
Arctic Monkeys are famed for having a 'no tricks' approach to music and playing live. There are no dubstep electro breakdowns, no dancing robots or daft lazer special effects. They just let the music do the talking without using props as a crutch. It's just pure rock n' roll entertainment. However with a capacity of over 40,000, Finsbury Park is going to demand something a little more grand than just a massive 'AM' in lights. Expect the Monkeys to use this occasion to put on something pretty epic, without being too extravagant.

2. Alex Turner: Rock God
Remember last year when Yannis from Foals made a dig at bands with 'Elvis impersonations' at the Q Awards? One can't say whether they were aimed at Alex Turner or not. Either way, as Turner steps up to the plate for the biggest non-festival headline gig of their career expect a lot of furled-lips, hip-shaking and hip-shaking. It's fair to say that Turner's newfound swagger and bravado will feed off the electricity of the Finsbury Park thousands. After all, the biggest band in the world need to be fronted by the biggest rock star in the world. Are we right?

3. All sides of the Monkeys embraced
Third album Humbug split opinion upon its release, due to the departure from scratchy disco indie to psychedelic desert rock. However, the band's evolution into an almighty rock n' roll beast since them has put the tracks into new context. Expect 'Cornerstone', 'Crying Lightning' and 'Pretty Visitors' to sound bigger and better than ever as the 40,000-strong Finsbury massive holler them back, while 'I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor' and 'When The Sun Goes Goes Down' sit perfectly in the context of a cannon of classics. They've surpassed trends to a fully-formed well-rounded rock phenomenon. The Monkeys' evolution is now complete, without compromise.

4. Special guests and collaborations
Alex Turner's Last Shadow Puppets partner Miles Kane popping up to guest on the brilliant set-closer of '505' has become somewhat of a tradition. With Kane supporting, it would be more than a little bit rude for it to not happen at Finsbury Park. Fingers crossed that they repeat their Glastonbury duet of 'Standing Next To Me' too. Also, it seems pretty likely that Bill Ryder-Jones will make an appearance as he has throughout the AM tour. Guest spots from fellow Steel City hero Richard Hawley and desert-botherer Josh Homme are less likely, but one can dream...

5. 'Shaking things up'
Responding to allegations made by support band The Orwells in an interview Gigwise last month about their gigs becoming 'repetitive', Alex Turner said: "There comes a time on a tour when something works and you tend to leave it alone. We have been changing it around a little bit. You can't mess around with it too much. It's almost like the show isn't designed to be watched by the same person every night. Nowadays people share the setlists, but I'm by no means fucking phoning it in. It's not like we have [pre-recorded] tracks, we're up there fucking doing it."
Expect them to be unpredictable and 'fucking do it' in style.

6. Some sort of speech
During their monumental victory sweep at the BRITs this year, Turner split opinion with his epic speech about rock and roll coming out of the swamp, or whatever. However, two shows of this magnitude are far more of a success for rock - so expect him to mark the occasion with a few choice words.

7. History is made
The last time we interviewed DJ Zane Lowe and asked who our generation's Nirvana were - you know, that band whose sound defined a generation. His answer: Arctic Monkeys. AM is already a classic and marks the band's biggest and most ambitious assault on the music world - expect this tour to cement them as not only the biggest, but truly the best band in Britain. After their career-defining headlining spot at Glastonbury, expect Finsbury Park to be the moment that Arctic Monkeys rule the day and seize the throne as Britain's biggest band. May the world pine for Oasis no more.