Monkey Mania
I went to see Arctic Monkeys again on Thursday night.... it was their first gig in London for ages, and the most hyped up gig to hit the city in years. In our typical British way the media has jumped on the band as not only the saviours of rock 'n' roll, but also the most likely to bring peace to the Middle East and also lead England to World Cup Glory (see also: Andrew Murray (Tennis Bore)). And as such Radio 1, NME and every newspaper with print to fill has been salivating over them like a paedophile in a playground. Mind you, I guess i've been guilty of that myself, so I should get out of the greenhouse before throwing stones around.
I had a spare ticket so wandered past the venue early to try & offload it. I found some desperate looking teenagers so tried to sell it to them, only to be set upon by touts thrusting fistfuls of twenties in my face. Tempting though it was, I couldn't really bring myself to break their teenage hearts by taking the filthy lucre. Damn this pesky conscience! It's been holding me back all these years! Mind you, I was repaid at the end by seeing the 3 of the group that managed to get in at the end of the gig.. soaked in sweat and grinning broadly. Ahh... bless!
As for me? Well let's start with the set list:
'Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor'
'Fake Tales Of San Francisco'
'Still Take You Home'
'View From The Afternoon'
'Ritz To The Rubble'
'You Probably Couldn't See'
'Vampires Is A Bit Strong But...'
'Dancing Shoes'
'Red Light'
'Mardy Bum'
'Sun Goes Down' (AKA Scummy)
'Certain Romance'
All you internet savvy muso types will probably be familiar with some if not all of the tracks from the 'Beneath the Boardwalk' demo that's been pretty widely circulated (not least right here). And they started to scenes of absolute delirium with forthcoming single 'Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor', followed straight up with 'Fake Tales of San Francisco' - probably their best song. I've been to a fair few gigs in my life, but I don't remember ever seeing quite such pandemonium on the dancefloor. The Astoria was transformed into an indistinguishable mess of legs, arms, feet, hair, beer, sweat, and no doubt many other bodily fluids. I wish i'd got some photos but I was far too busy going chicken jalfrezi myself.
Trouble was that having got their two best known songs out of the way at the start of the set, the whole middle of the show became a bit of an anti-climax, and until the ending of 'Mardy Bum', 'Scummy' and 'A Certain Romance' it all went a bit flat for a while. That's no fault of frontman Alex Turner though.. a more charismatic, genuine and, well, funny lead singer you couldn't hope for. He kept the crowd entertained while bassist Andy Nicholson disappeared with a nosebleed (He should have let it flow I reckon... nothing more rock 'n' roll than a river of blood!).... mainly by remarking on all the celebrities in attendance. Although to be honest the only one he could find was some bloke who looked like Gareth from the Office.
Maybe it was Andy disappearing for 5 minutes, but the gig definitely went flat for a while. Personally I think it was down to a questionable set list. I can't understand why, as the band easily have enough material to fill an hour's set with quality stuff. Christ knows why they don't ever play 'Bigger Boys and Stolen Sweethearts' for instance... and 'Choo Choo', 'Cigarette Smoke' and 'Wavin' Bye To The Train and The Bus' would all be better bets than.. well four of the mediocre songs they played in the middle.
Things got better again at the end though... with the volume of singing along to 'Scummy / Sun Goes Down' truly breathtaking, and my favourite song 'A Certain Romance' resulting in much frenzied jumping around to finish with.
So it was a truly excellent gig, but nothing like the 'Sex Pistols at the 100 club' that NME will no doubt make it out to be next week.
That's probably me done with them for a while as well unfortunately. A lot of the crowd they attract are the fred-perry-clad-beer-can-throwing types. And I don't fancy much joining 3,000 of them in Brixton Academy on their next tour. As usual they won't see the irony in behaving like pricks as Alex sings 'And just 'cos he's had a coupla cans, he thinks it's alright to act like a dickhead'.
ARCTIC MONKEYS - CIGARETTE SMOKE
ARCTIC MONKEYS - WAVIN' BYE TO THE TRAIN AND THE BUS
(Is this not perfect as a live set / album closer? Maybe it's just me...)
I did take photos, but annoyingly I left them on my computer at work... I may be able to get 'em up tomorrow.
Article in Friday's Times
p.s..... Top of the League!
:-D
I had a spare ticket so wandered past the venue early to try & offload it. I found some desperate looking teenagers so tried to sell it to them, only to be set upon by touts thrusting fistfuls of twenties in my face. Tempting though it was, I couldn't really bring myself to break their teenage hearts by taking the filthy lucre. Damn this pesky conscience! It's been holding me back all these years! Mind you, I was repaid at the end by seeing the 3 of the group that managed to get in at the end of the gig.. soaked in sweat and grinning broadly. Ahh... bless!
As for me? Well let's start with the set list:
'Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor'
'Fake Tales Of San Francisco'
'Still Take You Home'
'View From The Afternoon'
'Ritz To The Rubble'
'You Probably Couldn't See'
'Vampires Is A Bit Strong But...'
'Dancing Shoes'
'Red Light'
'Mardy Bum'
'Sun Goes Down' (AKA Scummy)
'Certain Romance'
All you internet savvy muso types will probably be familiar with some if not all of the tracks from the 'Beneath the Boardwalk' demo that's been pretty widely circulated (not least right here). And they started to scenes of absolute delirium with forthcoming single 'Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor', followed straight up with 'Fake Tales of San Francisco' - probably their best song. I've been to a fair few gigs in my life, but I don't remember ever seeing quite such pandemonium on the dancefloor. The Astoria was transformed into an indistinguishable mess of legs, arms, feet, hair, beer, sweat, and no doubt many other bodily fluids. I wish i'd got some photos but I was far too busy going chicken jalfrezi myself.
Trouble was that having got their two best known songs out of the way at the start of the set, the whole middle of the show became a bit of an anti-climax, and until the ending of 'Mardy Bum', 'Scummy' and 'A Certain Romance' it all went a bit flat for a while. That's no fault of frontman Alex Turner though.. a more charismatic, genuine and, well, funny lead singer you couldn't hope for. He kept the crowd entertained while bassist Andy Nicholson disappeared with a nosebleed (He should have let it flow I reckon... nothing more rock 'n' roll than a river of blood!).... mainly by remarking on all the celebrities in attendance. Although to be honest the only one he could find was some bloke who looked like Gareth from the Office.
Maybe it was Andy disappearing for 5 minutes, but the gig definitely went flat for a while. Personally I think it was down to a questionable set list. I can't understand why, as the band easily have enough material to fill an hour's set with quality stuff. Christ knows why they don't ever play 'Bigger Boys and Stolen Sweethearts' for instance... and 'Choo Choo', 'Cigarette Smoke' and 'Wavin' Bye To The Train and The Bus' would all be better bets than.. well four of the mediocre songs they played in the middle.
Things got better again at the end though... with the volume of singing along to 'Scummy / Sun Goes Down' truly breathtaking, and my favourite song 'A Certain Romance' resulting in much frenzied jumping around to finish with.
So it was a truly excellent gig, but nothing like the 'Sex Pistols at the 100 club' that NME will no doubt make it out to be next week.
That's probably me done with them for a while as well unfortunately. A lot of the crowd they attract are the fred-perry-clad-beer-can-throwing types. And I don't fancy much joining 3,000 of them in Brixton Academy on their next tour. As usual they won't see the irony in behaving like pricks as Alex sings 'And just 'cos he's had a coupla cans, he thinks it's alright to act like a dickhead'.
ARCTIC MONKEYS - CIGARETTE SMOKE
ARCTIC MONKEYS - WAVIN' BYE TO THE TRAIN AND THE BUS
(Is this not perfect as a live set / album closer? Maybe it's just me...)
I did take photos, but annoyingly I left them on my computer at work... I may be able to get 'em up tomorrow.
Article in Friday's Times
p.s..... Top of the League!
:-D
posted by headphonesex @ 11:59 PM
