The date was Sunday 9th September, the venue was The O2 Arena in London and the star act performing were indie-rock band, the Arctic Monkeys.
Yes, the Sheffield lads have returned after a 4 year break; with their last performance being headliners at Reading Festival 2014; which I was lucky enough to attend.
At this gig, they opened with Four out of Five which is the first single to be taken off their latest album Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino. They also played four other tracks from the new album including One Point Perspective, Science Fiction, Star Treatment and the song Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino. To be honest, their new album has been a slow grower on me and I hoped seeing these tracks live might have a different feel to them.
However, I was still not totally coninced. I found the music relaxing and enjoyed swaying my head to the rhythm but the songs and lyrics were hard to follow and quite complicated to understand. Although I did find the lighting did a good job of illustrating the mood of being in space and making it look like a UFO on stage, particularly during Science Fiction.
After the opening song, they exploded next with a classic favourite Brianstorm. Crazy build up, great guitar riffs and an epic drum solo by Matt Helders (and only two songs in – he must be exhausted already!) Other classic favourites performed include Crying Lightning, Teddy Picker, Snap Out of It, Do Me a Favour, Dancing Shoes, Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High?, Do You Wanna Know? & my lyrical favourite Don’t Sit Down Cause I Moved Your Chair. Every song was awesome and I loved head banging, fist pumping and singing my heart out.
They also performed the track 505 from their second album Favourite Worst Nightmare. For this performance, they brought on Miles Kane as a special guest.The performance was great and is another favourite track of mine but I was slightly confused why Miles Kane was on stage. After a little research, it turns out he does feature on this track as accompanying guitarist and has been known to perform at Arctic Monkey shows including Glastonbury 2013 and TRNSMT earlier this year.
I was rather disappointed they did not play When The Sun Goes Down from their debut album. I was also slightly disappointed with the closing songs too. I was hoping they would close with their first single I Bet That You Look Good on the Dancefloor. Instead they played that before then encore (which I have to say was a long wait) and actually closed with R U Mine? I love this song too but they should’ve been switched over.
In addition, I want to mention their support act, The Lemon Twigs. They are an American rock band from Long Island, New York. They show similarities of bands like Fun., The 1975 and even a hint of Queen. There performance has inspired me to check them out and maybe include them in a future music review… watch this space!
