While we desperately cling on to Arctic Monkeys every move as we lead closer to LP 5, we have their short but sweet west coast tour to keep the anticipation running wild. I made the trek from New York all the way out to Denver to visit a friend, and it just so happened that the boys from High Green, Sheffield, were also in town.
New song “Do I Wanna Know?” kicked things off in epic fashion, somehow already seeming like an old familiar tune that we’ve known for years. It’s very much in their “R U Mine?” direction that they’ve been heading towards, but it still rings true to their sound and fits in their set list perfectly. It made sense that “R U Mine?” was up next. But things really got kicked into full motion with “Dancing Shoes”, a song that has been long forgotten in their sets for way too long. It was hard for me to focus on taking photos facing the temptation to sing along.
From there we got a solid spread of a little bit of everything. B-side “Evil Twin” thankfully still finds a way into the set, still fitting very much so in this era of their career. “Brianstorm”, “Don’t Sit Down”, “Crying Lightning”, and the like were all there and still sounded just as good as they have every time I’ve heard them. The real treat of the evening was getting to hear “Old Yellow Bricks” and “Fake Tales Of San Francisco”. Those along with “Dancing Shoes” were songs I was worried I would never get to hear again as they hadn’t played them in nearly 5 years. It’s good to see that they’ve warmed up to them again. A great moment for me was “That’s Where You’re Wrong”, a song I hadn’t heard live before. It’s easily a Suck It And See highlight for me, and it was done to perfection. “Brick By Brick” is so much better live than on record, you’d really be quite surprised.
With a catalog like theirs it’s hard to fit everything in there without them playing for 3 hours (which I wouldn’t mind). Personally, while I don’t mind them on record, I think I could do without “Pretty Visitors” and “She’s Thunderstorms” live. If it means getting to hear “When The Sun Goes Down”, “Still Take You Home”, “This House Is A Circus” or dare I say “A Certain Romance” (sigh), I’m all for it. No complaints though. They nailed all their hits (Dancefloor, 505, Flourescent, View, Cornerstone) and put their all into every song. Turner is just as engaging a frontman to watch as always, even with his much spiffier clothing.
I have seen the Arctic Monkeys 10 times now. I have never left disappointed or let down by them in anyway. If you want to see a pure rock and roll show through and through, you know where to look. With a new album potentially on the way, we can only expect much bigger things to come from them in the next year and a half.
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