Live Review: Arctic Monkeys - Swansea Stadium

ARCTIC MONKEYS

SWANSEA.COM STADIUM

SWANSEA
12/06/2023

Over two decades into their career, Sheffield’s smooth operators refuse to stand still. Arctic Monkeys offer a fresh take on nostalgia alongside some of their best-ever material from their latest album ‘The Car’. 

Words by Philip Giouras

Photo Credit: Zackery Michael

★★★★★

Arctic Monkeys, without a doubt one of the most significant rock bands the UK has ever seen, have thrilled listeners and audiences for over two decades. As a result, it feels long overdue for the rock quartet to embark on a triumphant stadium tour, which has been welcomed by sold-out crowds across the UK (including three nights at London's Emirates Stadium later this month).

Critics questioned whether the band's intimate, string-soaked and jazz-infused recent two records, ‘Tranquility Base’ and ‘The Car’ could translate to the vast surroundings of a stadium. In Swansea however, the group display a mastery over the art of structure by crafting a setlist that celebrates their roots, their many transformations and crucially the polished virtuoso’s they have become. 

Applause echoes through the stadium as the group saunter onto the stage, Turner perfectly balancing a look that straddles the line between suave and theatrically camp. He’s dressed in a wide collar unbuttoned shirt, which adds a rogue element to the smartness of his suit. The look is finished off with a combination of his wild (yet seemingly shaped) barnet and Top Gun style aviators. Fellow members adorn an assortment of dress shirts, leather jackets, jeans and, in drummer Matt Helders case, a snakeskin-styled rayon shirt.

The group's style deserves a mention alongside their sound, as it feels like an intentional and key element of the persona the group are putting across to the audience. They're no longer four angsty kids rocking polos and hoodies in sweaty nightclubs anymore, and they want you to know that.

Speaking with the Big Issue in the official tour programme, Helders questions “How do we make seven albums worth of material fit into an hour and a half?”, before mentioning on this tour a “newfound love for the songs we play” after moments where previously they felt like “we were doing a karaoke of our own band”. That newfound appreciation has led to the return of some older material as well as reflection and reinvention of some classics. This can be felt from the very first moment of the show when cheers soon turn to squeals of delight as 2007’s ‘Brianstorm’ erupts into life, the crowd equally bursting into a frenzy. 

Turner evokes the confidence befitting such a seasoned performer. He knows every crowd reaction before he even strikes a chord, the perfect conductor, he’s carefully constructed the pace and flow of the evening. ‘Brianstorm’ is quickly followed by a celebration of the group's long and varied career, a swaggering performance of AM’s ‘Snap Out Of It’. There’s the much-welcome return of ‘Don’t Sit Down ‘Cause I’ve Moved Your Chair’ from ‘Suck it and See’ which the group layer with a menacing groove and swagger that Turner seems to thrive from. This segues perfectly into its spiritual predecessor ‘Crying Lighting’ from ‘Humbug’ with its unsettling and macabre rhythm. 

‘Teddy Picker’ and ‘The View From The Afternoon’, the latter introduced by Turner in the style of a sinister compere, perfectly showcase how the band balance the raucous angst from their earlier material with their maturity and experience. Whereas previously there was the feeling of a powderkeg waiting to go off, the songs are now delivered with confident and controlled chaos. It leads to a smoother, yet no less sensational performance from the Sheffield crooners.

This style however truly shines when paired with the band's selection of timeless poetic ballads. Turner is without a doubt one of the finest lyricists of his time, there is simply no other band that can encapsulate Britain's youth culture in the early 00s. Turner mixes the grittiness, the awkwardness and the messiness of the period and finds a way to paint such an emotive and alluring picture of it all through his exceptional use of vocabulary and metaphors. It’s as if the suave singer before us has been waiting to bloom this whole time, notably when he performs a captivating trio of ‘Cornerstone’, ‘Why’d You Only Call Me When Your High’ and ‘Arabella’.  

The second half of the evening is split between some of the group's biggest hits and some spectacular smatterings from the latest record ‘The Car’. It’s a testament to the band that this mixture feels so natural. The velvety ‘Perfect Sense’ sparkles as the sun sets and is replaced by the illumination of thousands of phone lights instinctively raised in unison. A thunderous ‘Do I Wanna Know’ vibrates throughout the stadium, Turner’s body slithering across the stage, echoing Presley in the way he thrusts the occasional hip. Enjoying their material like never before, the continued dusting off of the beloved ‘Mardy Bum’ after a decade gets a suitably delirious response 

The whole evening has shown a new level of cohesion and jubilance between the group, none more so when it comes to their latest material. Turner has never felt as at home as he does on the sauntering Bond-styled ‘There Better Be A Mirrorball’, easily one of the best singles of last year, it excels here, especially when Turner hits that special high note. ‘505’ continues to strike a chord with new generations, as a young demographic reach for their phones to capture what has been a TikTok-led resurgence for the track. 

The band close their main set with their most highly charged moment of the evening, a glorious rendition of ‘Body Paint’. It feels like the group's first-ever natural set closer in their career, whilst their hits have such a strong nature and appeal to their audiences, they feel like short bolts of electricity rather than a triumphant storm of a finale. ‘Body Paint’ on the other hand truly delivers as it slowly unfurls across sparkling keys into a strong yet sensual chorus, before finally erupting into an extended psychedelic guitar solo. The joy is now etched across each member’s face as they reverberate off of one another's energy. The worries that the album wouldn’t translate to large venues seem utterly ridiculous in this context as ‘Body Paint’ provides the signature ‘stadium moment’ of the evening.

Screams of ‘one more song’ as the band depart are fulfilled and then some as the group return with a trifecta. ‘Sculptures of Anything Goes’ feels cataclysmic with its dread-inducing synths and bass notes. It’s followed by a triumphant “return to square one” as Turner calls it with a deafening rendition of ‘Dancefloor’ that can be heard from miles across the city, before signing off with their rock staple ‘R U Mine’.

‘The Car’ tour is Arctic Monkeys at their most complete. For just over ninety minutes, the group provide the most succinct, passionate and well-paced set of their careers. As the final notes ring out there’s not a firework in sight, and neither are they needed. Turner and co. prove that a real rock spectacle can be created and that they can carry a stadium through their stage presence alone, that’s more explosive than any pyrotechnic could ever be. 

Setlist:

Brianstorm

Snap Out of It

Don't Sit Down 'Cause I've Moved Your Chair

Crying Lightning

Teddy Picker

The View From the Afternoon

Cornerstone

Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?

Arabella

Four Out of Five

Pretty Visitors

Fluorescent Adolescent

Perfect Sense

Do I Wanna Know?

Mardy Bum

There'd Better Be a Mirrorball

505

Body Paint

Encore:

Sculptures of Anything Goes

I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor

R U Mine?