Some of the finest bands in existance - past and present - have graced the Manchester Evening News Arena stage; but not all of them have quite had the effect in which the 4 lads from High Green provided.
Playing a near sell out arena tour across the UK, the 2nd stop of Arctic Monkeys' journey was Manchester; the home of music. With them, they brought the critically acclaimed delight of The Vaccines as support. And in my humblest of opinions, they absolutely killed it.
Spilling out the tunes from beginning to end, Justin Young of The Vaccines was faultless in vocals, showing no sign of the numerous throat infections which have haunted him and the band for some time. They were tight in rhythm and flawless in banter with the crowd. Providing the 15,000 strong masses with songs such as 'Wreckin' Bar (Ra Ra Ra)', 'Post Break-Up Sex' and a personal favourite, 'Norgaard'; The Vaccines surpassed brilliance once more as a support act to the 'Monkeys, and it shan't be long until they are as widely credited as the headliners. Trust me. 7th sense about these things. (6th sense is I know when Everton are about to score. Not really important...)
Vaccines left the stage on a high, and half an hour later, it was time for one of Sheffields finest exports to make sweet, sweet music. The Arctic Monkeys stolled onto stage to the sound of 'You Sexy Thing' by Hot Chocolate, a song so well known, it makes The Ting Tings jealous (because they're tripe). Alex '1960's throwback' Turner and the rest of the boys looking slick and cool as always kicked off the 18 piece setlist with 'Don't Sit Down 'Cause I've Moved Your Chair' moving swiftly into 'Teddy Picker', from then on left everyone within the vicinity of the standing area in a sweaty trance. The once shy teen from the suburbs of Sheffield has matured to such a degree, he effortlessly pulls out the knee slide like nobodies business.
Between blaring out the indie rock tracks of a musically-gifted generation, faint screams of 'I love you Alex' and 'if anyone sees a phone, its mine!' rang around (both me to be honest) as well as chants about Jamie Cook and encouragement for the agile beast spinning and throwing his sticks in the air.
Back to the norm, they carried on the mesmorising set with 'The View from the Afternoon', 'Do Me a Favour' and fans favourite 'When the Sun Goes Down'. 'Dance Little Liar' also featured, much to the surprise of many along with new B-side 'Evil Twin' which received rave reviews.
Another brief moment of bantics with the crowd saw Turner pointing towards all sections of the crowd to determine who was the most vocal. They proceeded to the ever-growing sounds of the Madchester crowd. The night drew to a close but not before an encore, which included 'Suck it and See', 'Mardy Bum' and finally '505', which incidentally was fantastic to see performed with John Ashton on the keys.
No comments:
Post a Comment