Live review

Arctic Monkeys, Emirates Stadium, London

17th June 2023

Playing to 180,000 people over three nights, it’s as dominant a turn as they come.

Words: Lisa Wright
Photos: Emma Swann
19th June 2023

In some ways, we always knew we’d be here. Though Arctic Monkeys’ musical evolution over the past seven albums and nearly two decades has been vast - the youthful antagonism of yore switched out for cinematic sweeps and theatrical flourish - Alex Turner and co have never really been anything other than stadium-sized. Within 18 months of releasing their debut, they were headlining Glastonbury; this weekend’s trio of Emirates shows act as a run up to their third time topping the festival’s hallowed Pyramid. If anything, it seems odd that it’s taken this long for the Sheffield stalwarts to take the leap up to the country’s stadium stages on their own tour.

You can, however, understand the reticence. In the vast ground that normally plays host to Arsenal FC, the people at the back are a literal football pitch away from the band. For an outfit who still can ignite an indie dancefloor better than any other, who spent the first two thirds of their career as the soundtrack to rowdy pits and drunken fumbles in festival fields, the sheer vastness is on a scale that could threaten to undo the magic.

And yet whilst there’s no universe in which tonight - the band’s second at the venue - could feel anything other than fucking massive, it also doesn’t feel wrong. Backed by the slickest of Bond-esque set designs, and suited and booted like he could be auditioning for the role himself (albeit with a splash of ‘70s time travel), Alex Turner looks as at home here as anywhere - a ringleader confident in the knowledge that they’ve got a setlist which means they, essentially, can’t fail.

Arctic Monkeys, Emirates Stadium, London

Where the Monkeys’ 2022 Reading Festival headline at the start of ‘The Car’’s touring run felt slightly off in pace, tonight they’ve revved things up accordingly. ‘Brianstorm’ bolts out of the gates like a statement of intent, while the balance of material from across their storied career struts through their various guises like a This Is Your Life tour of a band who’ve grown up alongside their audience. There’s the plucky and excitable young bucks of ‘Teddy Picker’ and the prowling, lip-curling rock stars of ‘Don’t Sit Down ‘Cos I’ve Moved Your Chair’; on ‘Cornerstone’, Alex takes to the piano for some smooth sentiment, before amping up those ideas into the grown-up majesty of ‘Body Paint’ at the main set’s close.

Across 21 songs, there are literally no weak links which, considering the sheer breadth of ideas on show here, is almost unparalleled. To hark back to their earliest days with an uproarious sing-along ‘Mardy Bum’ before switching tack straight into the slow swoon of ‘There’d Better Be A Mirrorball’ (complete, naturally, with a shimmering globe above them) is like a musical Heston Blumenthal menu: two things that should never go together but, in the right hands, make delicious sense.

They end with ‘I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor’ and ‘R U Mine?’ - the track that changed everything the first time around, and the swaggering single that made the world’s collective jaws drop all over again come the start of their ‘AM’ imperial phase. To have one history-making song is good going; to have two is pretty special, but Arctic Monkeys have got a whole set of them and there’s not a person in the stadium left with any doubt about that.

Tags: Arctic Monkeys, Reviews, Live Reviews