WEEKEND-stealing headline slot at Glastonbury? Check. Similar slots all over Europe to thousands of crazy fans? Check. Second wind in the USA? Check. Fifth number one album in a row? Check. Sold out a huge UK tour four months in advance? Check.
Even by their standards, 2013 has been a momentous year for Arctic Monkeys. There had been plenty of speculation where they would go after they finished the Suck it and See Tour with a slot at the 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony, and it appears their decision to fuse hip-hop beats to Black Sabbath-y rock has proved a successful one.
So… a band at the height of their powers, 14,000 devoted fans crammed into Earl’s Court for the last ever gig at the London venue, and a bucketful of tunes wholly designed to get people up and dancing. What could possibly go wrong?
Well, for the start at least, nothing. The band stride on and straight into AM lead track Do I Wanna Know?, which despite only being a few months old unites the entire crowd to a joyful bounce to its guilt-edge riff, while Alex Turner serenades the venue with such exquisite skill.
Turner has evolved greatly in the last few years. No longer the shy young’un with the mic in front of him, he’s now a swaggering rocker – a White Rose Elvis, if you will. All black suit and quiff that requires between-song maintenance, he certainly looks the part.
But some things don’t change – the opener proves he remains the presence that can twist eloquent phrases into meaningful choruses.
It helps he has such a stellar backing band. After the opener, the band immediately knock Brianstorm out of the park, which inspire unrelenting mayhem to Matt Helders’ insane drum beats and flailing guitar chords. If anything, the next four songs – from Dancing Shoes through to Crying Lightning – don’t let up, running with it.
But after this opening streak, things settle into a hit and miss pattern. Suck It and See album track Reckless Serenade is particularly poor, with Nick O’Malley’s bass riff not sounding right in the poor acoustics.
Yet whenever the show hits a lull, the band usually follow up their sleeve. A certain I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor, no less, promptly arrives, which unites everyone as a heaving, singing, dancing mass.
Yet after that, the show retreats a little – aside from Fluorescent Adolescent, the show opts to stand on the surprisingly good strength of its ballads, culminating in AM closer I Wanna Be Yours. This is a decent tune but its an odd choice to end the main set on – despite impressive plumes of CO2 and confetti.
But they’re not done – they return for a three song encore which includes an acoustic Mardy Bum and the full-throttle R U Mine?, which is a preposterously brilliant one-two to end on.
Yet despite this, there’s a few bones to pick. There’s nothing wrong with the band’s playing – for every song, the band were superb. But poor sound quality and some baffling setlist choices meant it wasn’t perfection, with particular surprise seeing songs like The View from the Afternoon, 505 and When the Sun Goes Down – a number one single, no less – left out.
Its fair enough that, after millions of airings for these tunes worldwide, they’d be bored of them, but they’re always nice to see and its weird to go without them.
A few modifications to set and sound could’ve seen this top the O2 gigs on the last tour, but despite this, the AM juggernaut looks set to roll on, and the band continue their impressive year.
4/5
Opening the show for the Sheffield four piece were Irish band The Strypes, who struggled more with the venue’s acoustic deficiencies. Nevertheless, their spiky blues rock did hint at potential even in this environment, and hints at bigger things to come from them.