Last week I was lucky enough to see the Arctic Monkeys at the Prague Exhibition Grounds (Výstaviště Praha Holešovice).
It was amazing.
The gig announced the proper return of the Sheffield band, who were clearly back in full force. It felt so nostalgic, listening to the band perform songs I had known for years. But nothing about their performance felt old or boring or stale. Even the setlist felt like a breath of fresh air. I think the beauty about an Arctic Monkeys performance lies in the setlist. The band curate their setlists in such a way so as to weave in and out of their different, unique albums, keeping the crowd engaged. None of it feels overdone, on the contrary; the songs are given a new lease of life.
Although they suffered a couple of technical issues involving microphones and earpieces, the crowd remained unphased and amped up. At one point, during “505”, Alex Turner swallowed a fly! He played it off extremely well though, in true Alex Turner fashion, by making it a part of the song. Despite these hiccups it was really great to see the Sheffield band on tour again and it was a truly brilliant setlist. Those at the Výstaviště that evening were treated to a tour debut of “Four Out of Five”, the first live performance of “I Wanna Be Yours” since 2014, and the first live performance of “That’s Where You’re Wrong” since 2013. The crowd were in great spirits and it seemed like lots of brits had made the trip to see them.
Overall, it was a fantastic show.
One thing I picked up on was how the band walked out to the James Bond Theme from the films. I might be reading too much into it, but I can’t help but think it was a significant choice. My theory is that this song choice might foreshadow the sound of their next album. Something that leans more towards a jazz sound than anything else on their discography so far. This would make sense as a natural progression from their last release of Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino in 2018.
I’m excited to see if they hint towards anything else to do with their upcoming release, “The Car”, at their shows at Reading and Leeds Festival at the end of the month. Now that we have the album name, cover and tracklist, hopefully we’ll see some new tracks added into future. setlists
Rating: 4.5/5