Last night, I may have seen the greatest concert of my entire life. I’ve seen the likes of Radiohead, (who are right next to this show, by mere inches!) Coldplay, Arcade Fire, but seeing the Arctic Monkeys at Terminal 5 last night, just may be my “the best”!
There was so much energy in their performance, the crowd has absolutely nuts. The band fed off it putting on their best performance out of the 5 times I have seen them. Alex was as talkative as ever, interacting with us quite well. I was literally in front of him near the front, so being 6’5, I was able to make eye contact with him a lot. Shared a bit of an intimate moment!!
The bands set was pretty familiar but I still had a great time. They opened with “The Jeweller’s Hands” which was an interesting way to start the show. It started off a bit awkward but finished off quite lovely. From there the band absolutely killed it with all of their best jams such as “Brianstorm”, “Still Take You Home”, “I Bet You Look Good”, and “The View From The Afternoon”. The crowd was pretty nuts with plenty of pushing and shoving that Alex took note of when he said “This House Is A Circus” was both the song title and a description of the crowd! The songs were played to perfection by the boys, with new solos and instrumentals added to some songs, showing that they have only gotten better!
There is nothing like trying to fight to keep your position while anxious fans dance, push, and shove. In between all this your chanting along with “Brianstorm”, shouting the classic lyrics of “Dancefloor” and just rocking out to “Red Right Hand”. They played most of Humbug songs, plus “Sketchead”, which was a pleasant surprise! During “Fluorescent Adolescent” Matt did another rendition of “All I Want For Christmas” in between the songs new-found breakdown (video here). That absolutely made my night!!!
The band came out for a 2 song encore which was special to me because they never did an encore for the previous 4 times that I saw them. They ended things with “Secret Door” and “505″. I never got to see “505″ live so this was really special for me. It is one of my favorite Arctic Monkeys song, and one that I have a lot of memories with.
After the show, Matt left his drumsticks and I was firmly it position to try and get one. Sure enough, their sound guy noticed me waving at him and I was able to snag one of Matt’s drumsticks. This is something that I will hold onto for a long, long, time. Some guy offered me 200 bucks for it. No way I am ever selling something like that! The best part was, me and my girlfriend waited after the show and met Nick O’Malley. He was top class. He was on his way leaving and turned around to come back to sign a few autographs for us. He could have easily just left pretending to not hear us, but he made sure he signed a few things. I got my drumstick signed by him, so I am 1/4 of the way there! Thanks for that Nick, I really appreciate it!!!!
I cannot really describe how great this show was. The band was just on it tonight, really putting on one of their best performances. I obviously have not seen all of their shows, but this one had to be up there for them! The crowd was totally into it, going into an absolute frenzy the entire time. Openers Screaming Females were very talented as well. Their female guitarist showed some amazing guitar chops. Look out for them!
Here are the photos I took. I borrowed my moms good camera, and during “Potion Approaching” the Arctic Monkeys tour manager, Timm Cleasby, came up to me and threatened to kick my out if I took another photo. This was pretty disappointing, I was just trying to take some good memorable photos of the show. He could have just asked me to stop taking photos. The threat wasn’t necessary. People were recordings songs and taking flash photos all night. I guess that’s what I get for being so god damn tall! So if you do happen to read this Timm, I apologize for that. I didn’t mean to piss you off mate!
I want to go see the band again as soon as humanly possible, they were just so good last night! They probably won’t be back in America for a while, but until then I will wait!
Check out the photos below!
ParallelComics — 12 Dec 09
Holy crap- I’m seeing them tomorrow night and this sounds like an amazing tour. I was actually thinking Jeweler’s Hands might be an interesting opener the other day… wonder if they’ll play the same set in Boston?
Thanks for the detailed report, now I’m all fired up for this! (Well, more than before.)
Keisha — 12 Dec 09
OMG you lucky thing, you!
Thats amazing!! Ive seen them twice and I can just imagine what it wouldve been like, Ive been infront of him too =D
Take a picture of the drumstick for us!
J — 12 Dec 09
I was there last night too!! AMAZING! Were you wearing a shirt or sweatshirt w/ horizontal stripes? If so, I was definitely shoved into you for most of “Brainstorm” and “This House Is A Circus”. Ahhhh that was ridiculously awesome – I’m so happy I went!!!!!!!
Zach — 12 Dec 09
I’m seeing them tomorrow in Boston. After reading this I am pumped for the show. Can’t wait.
chris — 13 Dec 09
I am jealous. I’ve seen the monkeys twice (two days in a row), and both were rotten performances. They had no energy, and Turner was fairly quiet the entire time. It must have been the end of their tour, or maybe the Austin City Limits Music Festival took out the energy of them (….even the next day at a much smaller venue).
I was totally bummed on the monkeys because of those performances all the way up till Humbug came out. After your post, I really want to see them live when they actually are full of energy!
Matt — 13 Dec 09
Maaaaaan! I’m so goddamn jealous…hahah
Let me tell you something about ”I obviously have not seen all of their shows”:
I live in Brazil and the only time the monkeys came here was like three years ago and the tickets were completely sold out. they came here only ONCE. Dude, thank the gods for seeing them FOUR TIMES. And if I ever got the chance to glimpse Nick O’Malley I’d completely freak out, dunno how you can still sleep at night, I’d be high on my excitement…
And by the way, really good pics. Really, they are awesome.
Will — 13 Dec 09
@j – yes that was me!
Sandy — 13 Dec 09
dude i amthe one who has the other half to Matt’s drumstick!!!!!!!!!! your so luck you got it signed
Will — 13 Dec 09
hahah oh wow, small world! hahah you offered me money for it right? now you know why i didnt want to sell it!
Sandrine — 13 Dec 09
OMG as everyone said : you’re so lucky ! You were so close (and you got one of Matt’s stick ! AAH!)
. Still, it does not change the fact that the show was HUUUUGE ! One of my favorite show ever.
The only time I got to see them, me and my friends waited at the end of the show and Alex ignored us like cr*p when he came out, you’re lucky Nick was in a better mood
J — 13 Dec 09
Haha – I thought so – I had to push my way out from behind you so I could actually see Alex again. Lucky you though! Did you manage to stay right up there the whole time? I had to get out of all that craziness after a few songs, lol.
Will — 13 Dec 09
@ J – Sorry, I can’t help being tall! People gave me lots of shit for it last night. I waited in the cold for 3 hours, honestly I deserve to be there just as much as you!!
I was in front of Turner the entire show! People tried to push and pull me out of the way, but that was not happening!
Gilberto — 14 Dec 09
It was my third time seeing them. I wasn’t that excited because they weren’t that good the other times, and Terminal 5 is just an average venue… but I have to say: It was pretty fucking good! Putting “I bet that…” and “The view…” together was a great idea. It did set the crowd on fire.
ParallelComics — 14 Dec 09
Okay, so the Boston show made only two changes – Dance Little Liar instead of Pretty Visitors and Catapult instead of Sketchead. I pre-gamed by listening to Live in Texas. and it’s amazing how much tighter the band are in 2009 than ’05. Their growth as musicians is nothing short of amazing. They tore shit up.
Last Christmas was amazing.
ParallelComics — 14 Dec 09
I mean, Dance Little Liar instead of Jeweler’s Hands. Shut up, I’m tired.
writerwood — 14 Dec 09
the boston show was epic. I’m pretty sure they played Jeweller’s Hands. Did they open with Little Liar? I was just walking in and couldn’t really hear it. Last Christmas was indeed amazing. I was lucky enough to watch the show from the side of the stage, leaning on the stage, left side!
writerwood — 14 Dec 09
pretty sure this set list is 99.99% accurate from the Boston show
Dance Little Liar
Brainstorm
This House is a Circus
Still Take You Home
Potion Approaching
Red Right Hand
My Propeller
Crying Lightning
The Jeweller’s Hand
The View From the Afternoon
I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor
Cornerstone
If You Were There, Beware
Pretty Visitors
Do Me a Favour
Fluorescent Adolescent
Encore
Secret Door
505
Frank Grimaldi — 14 Dec 09
You’re absolutely right, it was a great show. Congratulations on getting your drum stick signed – I remember the momemt Matt flicked it towards Alex’s side of the stage.
Frank Grimaldi
concert-log.blogspot.com
ParallelComics — 14 Dec 09
@Writerwood – I think you’ve got Jeweler’s Hands in there where they played Catapult, a new b-side off the Cornerstone single.
After the song, Alex said. “That was the Catapult and this… is the View From the Afternoon”, which caused a mass crowdgasm, because who doesn’t love the older stuff?
Sammy — 15 Dec 09
I just came back from the Montreal show and it was AMAZING!!! The setlist was the same as Boston’s. I’ve seen them 4 times and this really was the best! I’m excited to see what’s next for these unstoppable lads…
Siren Music Festival 2010 | We All Want Someone To Shout For — 18 Jul 10
[...] the first acts but got there in time to catch the end of the Screaming Females set. I had seen them open for the Arctic’s last December and it looks like they were still tearing it up live. I met my friends for Surfer Blood’s [...]