If you haven't gathered by now, the band I went to see was Arctic Monkeys. The support act were The Vaccines - my second favourite band - and yet at the end I thought that The Vaccines done themselves justice, whilst Monkeys were a bit boring. Turner cracked a couple of jokes, the concert had some musical highlights, but would I have called Turner an icon in November 2011?
No.
Would I on the 21st of November 2013?
Definitely.
In November 2011, Arctic Monkeys had hardly put a foot wrong in their career, but they were a band like Kasabian or The Killers - lacking something extraordinary. Kasabian's front man Tom Meighan is constantly overshadowed by his guitarist Serge Pizzorno; whilst The Killers are destructive, with no real group chemistry, as this year has shown.
They all got on and despite losing Andy Nicholson in 2006 - who was replaced by Nick O'Malley - they played like they were their usual selves. However, when they were on stage, it wasn't like watching The Clash, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles...it was like watching a good - not great - indie rock band.
It all changed after that.
First came the release of the single R U Mine? which rocked the socks off fans. Nothing had ever sounded this hard, with the closest being the likes of Crying Lightning and Don't Sit Down 'Cause I Moved Your Chair. This started rumours of a heavier fifth album, but only time would tell.
Then came the Olympics Opening Ceremony. The quartet played a cover of The Beatles' Come Together and I Bet You Look Good On the Dancefloor, looking like a band on the up. Then, there was silence for almost a year.
Where did they go? Well they were busy recording in the LA desert and thanks to Matt Helders' mum (Mrs Helders) we discovered that they were making their fifth album.
In the spring of 2013, we were treated to the single "Do I Wanna Know?". A rifftastic song, with falsettos and a more rock sound than their previous albums. Didn't I mention that in July they would also play Glastonbury? Yeah, that was something else.
Alex Turner came out at Glastonbury looking like a man possessed. There was something strange about him. My family thought he had taken a line before coming out and so did I.
He was eccentric, witty, ostentatious and owned the stage. He held the crowd in his hand, even taking the piss out of Coldplay ("look at the stars" *crowd starts to sing* "Nah I'm jokin pipe down"). It just wasn't normal. He had finally developed as a front man, but as a doubting Thomas I wouldn't believe that until I seen it myself.
The album AM was sex-fuelled, it was different from anything they had done before. They had heavy rock, disco, ballads, hip-hop and indie rock on that album and it worked! Lyrically, Turner was as good as he has always been and the mainstream lovers even started following the Sheffield boys.
Then, there was last night. Although I couldn't participate in standing due to the rapid sell-out (less than a minute in Glasgow, appropriately put on sale right after that Glastonbury performance) I had a view from above which is arguably just as good. I got to see how buzzed the crowd were, how the songs affected them and I got to see the actions of all the band members. The Space Choirboys (Nick O'Malley and Matt Helders falsetto "duo") were great, Cook was a machine on guitar, but played with little effort and Turner was dancing around the stage like a modern-day Mick Jagger. It was something of magic - a real team effort.
Picture is credited to the amazing photographer, Emma Quinn (she threatened to sue me)
Which finally gets to my point, have they stamped their authority on the music industry today? Of course they have and I would go a step further in saying that they are the best British band of the 21st century. Only a couple can come close to them - The Libertines, Coldplay and Muse. The Libertines were like Nirvana, a band who tragically ended abruptly; Coldplay haven't been a consistent band and they bend over for pop; and finally Muse are close, but yet, what was the album Resistance all about? They, like Coldplay are inconsistent, but they are no sell-outs.As for 21st century bands around the world? They have arguably tore The Strokes who despite their genius sound, like The Killers, have personal problems getting in the way.
Some people would even say that Arctic Monkeys are the best British band of the past 20 years. What do I say? Pretty damn close. Two years ago, I would have dismissed Arctic Monkeys being compared to Blur or Oasis, however, what have they not got that these two bands had? Exactly.
Even if Arctic Monkeys do an MGMT (see Congratulations) and make an album that they love, but many hate, they have already cemented their position in the history books of the 2000s and 2010s.
Leave comments below and tell me if you think that they have earned their place in the music history books. Do you think they deserve to be in the same sentence as the likes of Oasis and Blur?
Who do you think is the greatest (British) band of the 21st century?
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