The quartet from Sheffield played the first of their two highly
anticipated sold out gigs at Earls Court in London last night to a myriad of anxious
and exuberant fans. As I was lucky enough to see their headline set at
Glastonbury back in June, my envisaged expectations were markedly high. However,
it is habitually difficult for bands to transfigure that sacred festival
atmosphere into monstrous and characterless arenas which so often lack intimacy
and can often erect barriers between the indispensable relationship of the band
and the fans. Although as I discovered, Earls Court is distinctively different,
partly due to the huge bands it has played the role of an invaluable host venue
to such as the infamous Oasis gig in 1995, The Rolling Stones and Red Hot
Chilli Peppers. Character and history are crucial imperatives for an iconic
venue and the historic 1930s arena certainly incorporates those components.
The band walked on to
the extended haunting intro to ‘Do I Wanna Know?’ with the
towering, statuesque
letters ‘AM’ illuminated behind the band as Alex delved into playing the instantly recognizable riff, of which the
crowd harmoniously chanted too. If a
riff initiates a mammoth sing-along in complete unison, then that is the
self-evident indication that you have made a colossal hit. Alex and co then
unleashed ‘Brianstorm’ to the increasingly psyched up and zealous crowd, which
soon descended into beer-throwing, mosh pit-induced chaos, to the point where Alex
had to intervene and say ‘You’re going to take care of each other, aren’t you
London?’ then immediately propelled the audience back into chaotic turbulence
by persisting with the rest of the song. The band now had the crowd in their
hands, entranced and anticipating what the rest of the night would entail.
Alex’s enunciated vocals during the set radiated
through the masses of fans, without the dishonourable helping hand of a
pre-recorded vocals, which so many ‘artists’ or what I like to refer to as
‘Pop Puppets’ rely on today. The band
are righteously moving away from relying on songs from ‘Whatever People Say I
am, That’s What I’m Not’ and the latest material from ‘AM’ preponderantly took
over the set list last night. Some fans may deem this as a significant flaw in
their set, but there is nothing more obsolete and repetitive than a band
relying on material they wrote seven years ago. Such nostalgia suffocates and
inhibits progression, and Arctic Monkeys are demonstrably keen to progress and
reinvent themselves, emphasised by Alex’s slicked back quiff and sartorial
elegance in contrast to the scruffy indie look they embraced during the early
days. However, for those that may voice their outworn complaints for the lack
of old material, they threw in ‘I Bet You Look Good On The Dance floor’ for old
times’ sake. ‘Fireside’ was perhaps a track on AM which was overlooked by the
more domineering, stompy and confident songs such as ‘R U Mine?’ and ‘Arabella’;
however last night, it was the track the stood out as the most memorable for
me. It sounds almost as if it could be on a Last Shadow Puppets album, but then
it throws in a ‘Humbug’ tinged guitar solo towards the end, combined with Turner’s
ingenious lyrics riddled with intricate imagery and metaphors which had the
most mesmeric, awe-inspiring effect.
Arctic Monkeys
concluded their mesmeric set with ‘I Wanna Be Yours’ to which confetti was fired
and smoke diffused through the immensely crowded arena. The only disappointment
perhaps was that ‘Mad Sounds’ didn’t make it onto the set list, a personal
preference to ‘I Wanna Be Yours’. However, the end was in fact further in sight
and more was to come from the boys in the band, as Alex and company returned to
stage and addressed the audience with ‘Can you stand a couple more London?’ to
which they received a predictable enthusiastic response. In the encore they
played ‘Snap Out Of It’ and an acoustic version of ‘mardy bum’ which induced a
mass sing-a-long, swaying arms and occasional glimpses of lighters flickering
amongst the crowd.
Alex’s natural fondness of word-play was enforced one last
time as he said ‘Come closer, can I ask you a question?’ and the ended the
night with ‘R U Mine?’ to which beers were thrown, and the crowd knew every
word, which just emphasises the universal popularity and profound admiration
for ‘AM’ as an exceptional piece of work. The album will be looked back on in
years to come as the ultimate pinnacle for the band; it is their ‘Abbey Road’ and
last night’s performance at Earls court will unequivocally be the pinnacle in their extraordinary journey, just as it was
for Oasis. There are few gigs that leave me in an unutterable state of complete
awe and unfeigned admiration, but Arctic Monkeys at Earls Court was deservedly one
of them.
