A little over four years ago, Hot Press bore witness to the incredible Irish debut of four young Sheffield lads with bad haircuts in Whelan’s. These days, Arctic Monkeys are all about bigger and better. The hair has been grown, the fashion sense sharpened and the sets are played in enormodrones like The O2.
It’s the last stop of their European tour, but Arctic Monkeys don’t seem particularly ready to party. ‘Dance Little Liar’ from their third album Humbug seems a sedate choice of opening track, leaving ‘Brianstorm’ to really get the excitable twentysomething crowd pogo-ing. As the gig progresses, it’s abundantly clear that tonight is all about the songs, not the stage show. Apart from Turner donning a baggy t-shirt emblazoned with ‘Marry Me Jamie’ thrown onto the stage by a fan, the frontman still seems vaguely shy and there’s little crowd interaction.
With a new, very different album under their belts, it’s unfair to expect too many songs from their famed debut to be dotted throughout the setlist - but rather than the Josh Homme-produced heavy material, the bouncy indie-pop numbers are the ones that see the entire crowd springing to their feet. ‘When the Sun Goes Down’, ‘The View From the Afternoon’ and ‘Mardy Bum’ - the latter segued with ‘Fluorescent Adolescent’ - are still thrilling to hear live, and instigate the loudest singalongs we’ve heard at a gig this side of Electric Picnic.
Nevertheless, there’s still a sense of strange emptiness leaving The O2. Could it be that we’re sad that our pet band can fill a stadium, or is it because their songs sound strangely charmless and adrift in a venue so big? Perhaps it’s a little bit of both.