Fans go nuts for Monkeys (and they proved American critics wrong)
Sheffield's Arctic Monkeys - the world's biggest band.
ARCTIC MONKEYS have made a triumphant homecoming and admitted it’s great to be back.
The four-piece performed a blistering set on the first night of their UK tour.
It followed them playing in the US where some critics dared to label the band “over-hyped”.
But the Sheffield lads proved them wrong with a storming show at Nottingham’s Rock City.
The gig on Thursday was their first proper show on home soil since Monkey Mania exploded at the start of the year.
Lead singer ALEX TURNER told the sell-out crowd: “It’s awfully nice to see you lot again.”
They thrilled fans by rattling through a 16-song set — including new tracks — in an hour, showing no signs of burn-out.
Rather surprisingly they chose to open with the mellow Riot Van, before tearing straight into The View From The Afternoon, which is on new EP, Who The **** Are Arctic Monkeys.
The packed venue loved it — and so did Alex. He sighed before saying: “Ah, it’s the little things you miss. You’ve not changed a bit.”
Next came new song Cigarette Smoker Fiona, which you can hear by downloading my Podcast, before one of the highlights of the night — a mass singalong to Mardy Bum.
Despite some of the dodgy reviews they got in the States, Alex admitted they had enjoyed their time across the Pond.
He said: “We’ve been away for a little while, seen some things, and it’s been fun.”
The Monkeys played another new song — the title track from Who The ****, which is released on April 24, and Leave Before The Lights Come On.
Both were lapped up by the Arctic Army — but unsurprisingly it was tunes from record breaking debut album Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not that got Rock City, er, really rocking.
The album has now gone gold in Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Denmark and the Middle East.
Back home in the UK it has gone triple platinum.
The band finished off with the epic A Certain Romance.
That saw heavyweight bass player ANDY NICHOLSON climb a 20ft speaker-stack to perform above the heads of worried fans.
And after the last guitar note died down there was no encore. Then again, they never do one.
But the lads did enough to prove sniffy US critics wrong — and show they are still one of our best bands for a decade.
thesun.co.uk
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