Arctic Monkeys

Music Box - March 15, 2006

Live Review by Amber Henson

It’s been quite some time since a band came around with quite as much hype as Arctic Monkeys. The British music press (led largely by the NME) has anointed them as the best new band since The Libertines…or Oasis…or The Smiths. Hefty comparisons indeed, which recently gave the teen rockers the fastest selling debut album in UK chart history. And although their live act lacks the kinetic excitement of say, Franz Ferdinand or The White Stripes, they don’t disappoint. After an inspired opening set by The Spinto Band (with no less than three guys on guitar), Arctic Monkeys came on and swept the sold-out crowd away.

By the time they’d finished their fourteen song set and walked offstage with no encore, it was apparent that, as lead singer Alex Turner said, “Arctic Monkeys will break America.” Clearly the audience had a connection with the band, singing along, pogoing, and rocking out, even though Turner didn’t think so. “I guess people just don’t move around as much at gigs over here,” he taunted. Nonetheless, the amount of energy in the place was impressive for a show full of L.A. industry types, especially at a venue as large as the Fonda’s Music Box. To convey this to Turner, someone in the front row flipped him the bird. “Don’t show your finger at me…how dare you,” he shot back in jest, as the band ripped into “Perhaps Vampires Is A Bit Strong But…,” a song about their naysayers.

During the course of the show, they played twelve tracks from their debut album Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not, displaying their signature sound—which effortlessly melds the melodic indie rock of The Strokes with the street poet musings of The Libertines and the post-punk rhythms of Franz Ferdinand. They also played a new song called “Leave Before the Lights Come On,” which sounds a bit different from the album tracks, but has a strong melodic hook and sounds fresh, all of which bodes well for their next album.

Although the rest of the band (Jamie Cook on guitar, Andy Nicholson on bass, and Matt Helders on drums) weren’t as quite as charming as Turner and didn’t actually ever say anything to the audience, they had a commanding stage presence. In fact, they’re somewhat reminiscent of early Oasis in the way they control the stage with their cocksure yet nonchalant attitude.

Not everything went perfectly, though. At the climactic moment of their debut single “I Bet You Look Good on the Dance Floor,” Turner tried to back off the lyrics to let the audience fill in the words. He was greeted by silence. Afterwards, he commented “Thank you. That was embarrassing.” Just goes to show—they aren’t a completely familiar entity yet on this side of the pond.