The first time this writer saw the ARCTIC MONKEYS play, they were supporting The Coral at the Manchester Ritz back in 2005. Two years on, the roles have reversed and the venue is twenty times bigger.
Favouring "big event gigs" over a soulless arena tour is commendable in itself, and typical of a band who have far from played by the rules. The Lancashire Country Cricket Club gigs are intended as a celebration of surely the most successful British band of this century.
The bill itself is rather unusual. AMY WINEHOUSE disappointingly turned up, sounding like nails on a blackboard wailing throughout a bland and unmoving set.
Both SUPERGRASS and THE CORAL arrive in strange positions, having perhaps tasted their biggest successes already and now flogging themselves in front of the new generation. Both tested out new material, which was met with a muted response. The rapturous reponses were saved for their hits, of which both bands have plenty, all hailing back from when they were fresh, lively and enthusiastic. Unfortunately their new songs are uninspiring - a sign of two great bands in decline.
Anyhooo, today is all about Arctic Monkeys; a band who have achieved more in two years than Oasis have in over a decade.
Opening with their current single ‘Flourescent Adolescent,’ they quickly dispatched with ‘I Bet You Look Good…’ and ‘Brainstorm’ and you realise what is so amazing about this band. *Every song is a hit*
‘Mardy Bum’ – a mere album track – is welcomed like it’s The Hit Single, and The Hit Singles achieve something even greater. It is a set full of highs, with the second album material now as familiar as ‘the early stuff,’ and the momentum is never really lost, not even when the sound cuts out during ‘Balaclava.’ It’s all 100bpm and brilliantly relentless for it.
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Alex Turner has become something of the professional front-man, sharing intimate jokes with an audience of thousands, and musically they are virtually flawless – remaining faithful to the recorded versions and giving the crowd what they want. That they can encore with a b-side (Plastic Tramp) and two album closers (‘505’ and ‘A Certain Romance’) and make it a climactic finale shows just much people have taken to this band – it’s not just about the chart smashes, it’s the whole package.
The working class imagery that is rife through most of their material resonates with people on some level; there are those that see many of the songs as an amusing slight on the grim Northern British lifestyle, whilst others believe them to be a celebration of their lives and their trashiness. How they are actually intended, it’s hard to judge, but both sides of the spectrum are represented tonight.
This should be a homecoming gig, but this isn’t Yorkshire. Nonetheless, this is Manchester, and if we’re not celebrating our own bands, we generally take anything successful and Northern as our own.
An outstanding night and a rather special event, it remains to be seen where the Artic Monkeys can go from here. However, it’s easy to imagine that The Coral and Supergrass will consider retiring after this weekend, for they are no longer the youthful scamps that the headliners are tonight. Nonetheless, it was a bloody good show...
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