All Points West Day 2: Arctic Monkeys
Arctic Monkeys at APW, 8.1.09
Arctic Monkeys were essentially our headliners for the second day of APW; we had no desire to see Tool, I had seen The Ting Tings many times before, and (I’m not gonna lie) I had been looking forward to seeing Arctic Monkeys all summer. It had been a VERY long time since I’d seen them live and I was more than curious to see if and how their live shows have changed.
I would previously have said that Arctic Monkeys aren’t much to see live. While the playing was deft and A. Turn™’s vocals were always sharp, they just never really did very much, apart from drummer Matt Helders, in the way of emoting or moving. The Live at the Apollo dvd can now be considered a time capsule of what kind of a live band Arctic Monkeys used to be — engaging and exuberant, albeit slightly stiff– because they are now a band that people will and should want to see, not just to hear the songs they love live, but to see an incredible performan ce
Maybe they went to rock n roll charm school or maybe they are a few years older and considerably wiser with lots and lots of hair to hide behind, but Arctic Monkeys played a seriously rousing and passionate late afternoon set at All Points West to a huge crowd who sang and danced along to every tune. New tunes like Pretty Visitors, Cornerstone and Crying Lightning translated well in a festival setting while old favorites like View from the Afternoon (for which Alex asked the audience to ” cast your memories way back…”) and Fluorescent Adolescent (reworked with a lovely new middle section) set the crowd ablaze.
Someone shot some amazing footage of this set and put it on YouTube: I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor (love A. Turn™’s shout-out to all the “LADIES!”), Fluorescent Adolescent, Cornerstone
Check back soon for our coverage of last night’s brilliant Arctic Monkeys gig at Highline Ballroom NYC.
MP3: Arctic Monkeys – Love Machine (Girls Aloud Cover) or zShare
MP3: Arctic Monkeys – When The Sun Goes Down (Justice Remix) or zShare
Comments (0)
This dude is so cute.
nah, he’s always been cute, now he’s HOT
That is not a Justice remix. That Knob over at Pretty Much Amazing has a habit of posting this ‘justice’ remix in a cynical attempt to increase traffic.