Arctic Monkeys just went big. Five minutes before the doors for this gig opened, their second single went straight to Number One in the charts. Half an hour after they come off stage, their first album is released, which is tipped to beat Definitely Maybe as the fastest selling debut album ever in the UK. They are on the cover of NME, and tomorrow, they start on a 4-week long NME tour which sold out in record time all across the country, purely because they are on the bill.So, a hometown gig in front of 900 people was always going to be special. The ticketless far outnumbered the lucky ones, and with 3 other Sheffield bands on the bill, it was a true celebration of a vibrant scene. The Harrisons appeared first, and played a solid set, which was "OK", but in reality it rarely got better than being just "OK".
Next up were Milburn, who were excellent - they supported Arctic Monkeys when I saw them at the Astoria, and they sounded a whole lot better this time - a good half dozen really promising songs, from a band that looked just like Arctic Monkeys' younger brothers. Definitely one I'll be looking out to see in London soon. The crowd in Sheffield loved them, they were the first hometown heroes of the night.
After Milburn, we were "treated" to the dubious pleasure of Reverend and The Makers. Sounding like a bad version of baggy gone wrong, but without some of the good songs that made baggy bands acceptable, they were totally out of tune with the rest of the evening, and with what all of the audience wanted. They weren't actually completely terrible, but they were pretty average, and didn't fit the occasion at all.
So, eventually, they buggered off, and we waited for Arctic Monkeys. The atmosphere was electric for the whole changeover, the crowd even erupted when a techie brought out the Arctic Monkeys' bass drum. After what seemed like ages to wait, and to the sound of Warren G's Regulate, the band took to the stage, with Alex holding up one finger to indicate who was Number One. When the crowd eventually died down, Alex uttered the five words that sent everybody wild again - Said who's that girl there... - he didn't need to sing another word for a while!
The band have previously been willing to "throw away" some of their banker songs early in the set, and this was no different, as the current Number One was followed directly by the previous effort. By the end of this, the gig was well and truly underway. Despite covering Girls Aloud's Love Machine on the radio during the week, they steadfastly refused to repeat the trick, and instead ploughed into the new album - one wild reaction after another. In the gaps between songs, Alex was constantly spotting his mates in the crowd, and the crowd itself took to singing about Sheffield - there was hardly a quiet moment at all.
We even got a new song towards the end, Leave Before The Lights Come On, which sounded just as good as anything on the album. After this song, Alex noticed that the doors had been thrown open, and that there were literally dozens of people watching/listening to the gig from the street outside - madness. Finishing up with Mardy Bum, Fake Tales of San Francisco, and A Certain Romance, the band topped off the set by throwing everything they had into the crowd - drumsticks, set lists, plectrums, the lot. Alex then went one better and dived into the crowd himself, sparking a near riot as everybody surged to the front to get a piece of him.
The set was only about 50 minutes long, but for 50 minutes of sheer pandemonium, you'd have to go a very long way to beat that. Being the last hometown show before this band becomes truly massive, and in such a small venue, this really was one of those "I Was There" gigs. But then, every gig Arctic Monkeys play at the moment seems like that - they really have no equal in terms of energy, buzz and tunes right now.
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