January 2, 2012 – The Palace Theatre, MelbourneSupport: Miles Kane (UK)
First of all, allow me to set the scene for you. The second day of 2012 had brought with it the first day of the summer to reach 40 degrees (that’s 104 for those of you who are fahrenheit-minded). Many people spent the day indoors as it was far too hot to go anywhere but the pool or beach, and failing that, a nice, cold bathtub. It was so hot in fact, that there were many people who were giving their tickets to the evening’s performance away…for free. “Too hot,” was the standard excuse given. I can’t blame them. The last time I went to a show at Melbourne’s The Palace Theatre on a 40-degree day was back in 2008 when I saw The Prodigy play. It was so hot inside the venue that I literally felt the sweat dripping down my arms and off my fingertips. To add further concern to the heat, the performers for the evening were England’s mighty Arctic Monkeys, a band from a town whose average high temperature for this time of year is about 6 degrees (about 43F). Needless to say, I had my doubts about this gig. Would the crowd be sapped of energy and rob the show of a good atmosphere? Would the inevitable heat prove too much of a distraction? Or, more importantly, would Arctic Monkeys be prevented from delivering a show that stands up to their usual standards given the extreme temperatures they would rarely have to deal with? I can safely say, that the answer to each of those questions was, “No”.
Arctic Monkeys have come a long way since I last saw them back when they were touring their second album Favourite Worst Nightmare. That night they raced through their set at Festival Hall without moving around much or doing anything more than playing the songs as well as they could. There was an intangible energy to that performance though. A sort of edgy quality from a band that seemed to still be in shock from how quickly they had found success. With minimal movement and between song banter, the crowd was still in a frenzy that night, testament to how good a band Arctic Monkeys really are.
The Arctic Monkeys that performed last night though, showed all the qualities of seasoned veterans. From the opening of Don’t Sit Down ‘Cause I’ve Moved Your Chair they moved powerfully and with confidence through their set. There seemed to be a newly found swagger to their show, a more fluid, comfortable manner, demonstrated best by enigmatic front man, Alex Turner. Now with years of touring experience, Turner has become a master of ceremonies, able to extract the required reaction from an audience despite the crowd showing some signs of fatigue from the heat. Where he use to stare at his shoes for much of the show, he now commands the stage moving from one side of the stage to the other like a true world class performer. Particular highlights were his ability to get away with dedicating each of the encore songs (Suck It And See, Fluorescent Adolescent and 505) “to the ladies”, feigning the Macarena during the appropriate moment in Don’t Sit Down ‘Cause I’ve Moved Your Chair and raising the crowd noise to deafening levels during a sing-along of one of their most well known songs, When The Sun Goes Down. Turner was so in tune with everything that was going on around him that he managed to demonstrate his cat-like reflexes dodging a stray drumstick from Matt Helders that would have had a lesser man taking a trip to the emergency ward for a few stitches. This change, to me, seems to have come over night, having missed out on their Humbug tour and it was refreshing to see. Of course, it has been the result of years on the road and learning what they can, and can’t, get away with.
But what about their set? Well, they played just about everything the crowd wanted to hear. The set list consisted mostly of songs from Suck It And See and Favourite Worst Nightmare with songs from their debut Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not not far behind. However, with only two tracks from Humbug (Crying Lightning and Pretty Visitors) I couldn’t help but feel slightly disappointed given that it is my favourite album by the band. During the set, former The Rascals member and one third of Alex Turner’s side project The Last Shadow Puppets, Miles Kane, joined Arctic Monkeys on lead vocals for new song Little Illusion Machine (Wirral Riddler) and again on guitar for the final song of the night, 505. All in all, there was nothing but satisfied faces all around as the crowds poured out of the venue. I didn’t hear any mention of, “Yeah, but I wish they’d played…” or “The sound wasn’t very good during…,” all that I could hear were different variations of the phrase, “What an awesome show!”
Arctic Monkeys have always been a very good band with hints that they may become great. If you’ve been reading this blog, you’ll have noticed that their latest album, Suck It And See, was one of my top albums of 2011. That album, and last night’s performance showed that, while there still might be some distance to cover before greatness is achieved, they are well on their way and I look forward to what they do next.
On a side note, congratulations must go to whoever had the brains to install a decent air conditioning system in The Palace. I will never need to worry about the heat at The Palace again. With that, good luck to anyone going to Arctic Monkeys Festival Hall show tonight (a venue notoriously known as The Sweat Pit). I will be at the East Brunswick Club seeing Jim Ward. Stay tuned tomorrow for a review of that show.
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