Rudolf Weber-ARENA, Oberhausen, Germany3rd May 2023
Arctic Monkeys - “European Tour 2023”
Sold-out arena, much more girls than boys, huge queues on the merch booths - that were my first impressions from the concert last night in Oberhausen. ARCTIC MONKEYS from Sheffield are among the world’s most successful bands, although they are constantly repositioning themselves stylistically. Countless prestigious prizes - including seven BRIT Awards, 20 NME Awards, a Mercury Prize and an Igor Novello Award as well as five Grammy nominations - testify to the quality of their songwriting, which is always shaped differently by the band, but always remains constant. On top of that, the ARCTIC MONKEYS are among the best and highest quality live bands in Indie Rock, which is why the joy about their upcoming world tour for the current, seventh album ‘The Car’ is correspondingly great. Within this framework, the ARCTIC MONKEYS were playing a handful of concerts in Germany.
Music & Performance
ARCTIC MONKEYS are one of those rare cases where high artistic standards and outstanding international success go hand in hand - and not just for a certain phase, but constantly since their formation in 2002. Their albums regularly climb to the top of the UK charts and are also in the top 10 worldwide - for example in Germany, where, apart from the debut, every other long player made it into the top ten. Even the USA - traditionally a difficult place for British bands - have remained loyal to the ARCTIC MONKEYS since their stunning 2006 debut ‘Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not’, regularly lifting their albums up into the charts and carrying their part of the almost 30 million records sold worldwide to date. And all this with music that can always be attributed to Indie Rock in a broader sense, but which is always subject to new and courageous arrangements. Or as Vice Magazine wrote, “The ARCTIC MONKEYS have reached a point where they are too hugely important to fail. They’re just a force far too valued for that.”
Alex Turner (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Jamie Cook (guitar, piano), Matt Helders (drums) and Nick O'Malley (bass) received this special appreciation from their fans right from the start. Because the ARCTIC MONKEYS are considered one of the first bands to find a broad audience via the new digital PR and distribution channels on the Internet - long before an album was even released. In fact, the digital release of a few demos was enough for a first UK tour, where they sold out venues with a capacity of 3,000 people at times; at the end of the tour they even played at the Reading and Leeds Festivals as an unsigned band. The international enthusiasm was correspondingly great when the debut album with such classics as ‘I Bet You Look Good On the Dancefloor’ and ‘When the Sun Goes Down’ was finally released in 2006 - their first two singles, which, like the album, immediately went to the Topped the UK charts.
Starting from this early world success, the four musicians undertook an exciting musical journey with their albums that continues to this day, presenting their fantastically composed songs in ever new sounds. While the third album ‘Humbug’ (2009) was produced in the Californian desert under the production of QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE head Josh Homme and sounded correspondingly rocky, the fifth album ‘AM’, which many experts considered their best to date, turned out to be judged, astonishingly orchestral and tonally expansive. About the seventh album ‘The Car’, which was released on October 21st, Alex Turner has said that it is a sequel to the fragile predecessor based on piano ballads ‘Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino’. So you can be curious - and look forward to the next great feat of the ARCTIC MONKEYS.
Already before the show started, several girls in the first rows collapsed and had to be pulled out of the crowd by the security. You can imagine what later happened, when the show really started. Mostly girls standing in the front rows, screaming and taking pictures of their idol, front man Alex Turner. He had the arena completely in his hand from the first moment he and his band entered the art deco stage where later on live images were shown in a big circle and on screens. The show is all about Alex Turner – his band mates are merely only assistants. Over the years, the style of the band changed from Rock and Brit Pop with some Metal influences over a more Soul and Blues style to Pop with synth sounds and flowing chords. Even though the style changed so much, the line-up always stayed the same… but now, all members besides Alex Turner act more in the background.
He was the one running the show with his attitude and poses while the sounds not always fit together. The mostly female audience did not care and just adored their very own personal Jesus. At the end, fans were happy about a great evening.
Setlist
01. Sculptures of Anything Goes
02. Brianstorm
03. Snap Out of It
04. Crying Lightning
05. Teddy Picker
06. The View From the Afternoon
07. Four Out of Five
08. Big Ideas
09. Cornerstone
10. Do I Wanna Know?
11. Pretty Visitors
12. Arabella
13. Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High?
14. Suck It and See
15. Fluorescent Adolescent
16. There’d Better Be a Mirrorball
17. 505
18. Body Paint
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19. I Wanna Be Yours (John Cooper Clarke cover)
20. I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor
21. R U Mine?
Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 9
Sound: 8
Light: 7
Total: 8 / 10
All pictures by Daniela Vorndran (http://www.vorndranphotography.com / http://www.facebook.com/blackcatnet)
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