Exceptional live act delivers a top-notch performance – The Irish Times

2023-10-20 12:28:04

Top class performance from one of the best live acts this side of the millennium – The Irish Times

Arctic Monkeys Rock Dublin's 3Arena

★★★★★

Better late than never. Only a few months after the precautionary cancellation of their Marley Park show before headlining Glastonbury, Arctic Monkeys are back on our shores for a string of shows in Dublin and Belfast.

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Frontman Alex Turner's bout with laryngitis seemingly did little to affect the Sheffield lads' performance at Worthy Farm but Irish fans were likely still feeling a little shortchanged - until Sunday night in the 3Arena, at least.

Impressive Opening Act: Miles Kane

Opening act Miles Kane played his part well. Given that his and Turner's side project, The Last Shadow Puppets, shares much of its DNA with Monkeys' and Kane's solo material, it's little surprise the crowd hopped onboard straight away.

Kane's personality-filled and energetic set warmed up the room just right. He was there to enjoy himself just as much as the crowd were. His new song "One Man Band" - from the new record of the same name - was particularly well received.

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Kane's ability as a frontman is on par with his guitar playing. Each song sounds like its writing began with the guitar riff, many of them the foundation of the hook, with the rest of the instruments falling naturally into place. This combination makes for an indie sound that, while a bit familiar, is always entertaining.

Wearing his vintage Irish soccer jersey was a nice touch, too.

After an elongated intermission, Turner crooned through opening track "Sculptures of Anything Goes" from their most recent album "The Car," on a classy art deco style stage before drummer Matt Helders threw the set headfirst into "Brianstorm" and "Snap Out of It."

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"Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?" and "Arabella" then came back to back for two of the biggest reactions of the night.

"Cornerstone" and "The View from the Afternoon" took some of the (slightly) older audience members back to their memories of the band's earliest work.

"Are we enjoying ourselves?" Turner asked the crowd, who responded with ear-splitting screams. He spoke disappointingly, but apparently not unusually, little during the set. He kept, however, moving across the stage, either crooning over the newer material or switching between lead and rhythm guitar parts on older songs.

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Towards the end of the set, the band were joined by a sublime string section for "505," "Do I Wanna Know?" and "Body Paint."

"We're back for some more," from Turner kicked off a powerful encore that cemented a top class performance from the band that really was worth the wait.

Even with their contemporary polished image, a stark contrast to their early days of trainers and hoodies, Arctic Monkeys are far from afraid of revisiting their extensive back catalogue.

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Sunday night's set spanned almost 20 years of work from the group with the encore including 2022's "Hello You," 2006's "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor," and 2013's "R U Mine?"

Turner could do with taking some lessons on crowd interaction from his buddy Kane, but there are few marks to be noted against a group that have turned into one of the best live acts this side of the millennium.

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