Arctic Monkeys recently ended their four-year long hiatus (can you believe we all waited so long) with the release of their album “Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino”. Anyone who´s been a fan of the Monkeys knows that this album exceeded all expectations, whether you think of this as positive or negative, I´ll leave that up to you. While I´m more of a fan of their old songs, probably because I´ve listened to them more often and in super many situations and can relate to them on a whole other level than the songs that were just released, I can´t say that I hated the album. Like, I really didn´t.
Anyways, this isn´t an album review. This is a concert review. Because guys, GUYS, I actually did it. After listening to their music for more than four years, after crying and dancing and laughing to these arguably messy and beautiful songs by a group of amazingly talented people, I finally got the chance to see them live. To see Alex fucking Turner live. I´m still not over it.
The concert was scheduled to start at 8, doors were to open at 6:30, me and my best friend arrived at 5. To be honest, we did skip in line, but only because we followed a huge group of people who were also skipping in line (surprisingly, those people started shit-talking about us for skipping ahead lol) and managed to get in at a reasonable time AND got into the area right in front of stage. Like, right in front of stage. I stood maybe five meters away from the real, alive and breathing the same air as me, Arctic Monkeys.
After waiting and listening to weird funk music that I could’ve sworn was straight out of Star Trek, Cameron Avery, an absolute cutie with a gorgeous voice and pretty slow, dreamy songs, finally came on stage. I really like two of his songs and was one of the few people jamming along with him. At that point, I didn´t care about what other people thought of me, my (very off-key) singing and dancing. He performed a handful of songs, and while I feel like they were a bit too somber and slow to be an opening act, which is meant to pump people up and lift the spirit and excite the audience, it was beautiful to hear his songs live.
Once he was done, we were left with some more spaceship music until the band finally, finally arrived at 9 pm. They started off by performing 4 out of 5, time which I spent staring at each member in awe (party because I´m not very lyric-confident with the newest songs). This performance was followed by something 13-year-old Antonia only dreamed of, a song I absolutely know by heart: “Do I Wanna Know?” Was this one of my favorite songs of the night? YES. The energy that filled the huge hall, the way the entire crowd just went bonkers when the first notes rang from the speakers, it was breathtaking.
My absolute favorite song of the night was 505. I have such a connection to this song, and hearing it live made my entire life. I cried, okay? It was beautiful. I think you must be a fan of them to understand this, but hearing this specific song live was one of the best moments of my life. Memories flooded over me all while I was living so much in this once-in-a-lifetime moment, and it was almost surreal to jump around and dance along to one of my favorite songs with hundreds of other people. It was crazy, and something I will never forget.
Songs I wish they would have played:
- Despair in the Departure Lounge
- Suck It and See
- I Wanna Be Yours
- Baby I´m Yours
The band strictly followed the set list I had looked up online in the weeks prior to the concert, so if you´re interested to know which songs they played when, click here to be taken right to the set list!
I´m so thankful to have expreinced this concert, this night. I don´t have much media to show you here, but that´s because I barely had my phone out during the performances. Pls forgive me for living in the moment haha xx If you ever get the chance to see the Arctic Monkeys live, please don´t hesitate and buy those tickets! It will be worth it!
xx Antonia