Arctic Monkeys live review

October 26th 2013 and its a Saturday night in London. Arctic Monkeys are playing to a nearly sold out crowd for their second night at Earls Court. The venue is huge and its almost as big as the 02 Arena (which is also in London). People are queuing up outside in their thousands and it isn't hard to see why given the massive success of Arctic Monkeys latest album "AM".

Support comes in the form of Irish Indie Blues band The Strypes. These four lads are very young and their ages range from 16-18 years old. Unfortunately, they fail to really get the crowd going. Interaction with the crowd is awkward as hand clapping and sing alongs are met with a half arsed reaction. Not only that but pretty much every song in their 45 minute set sounds the same. It feels like the band are just playing one long Progressive Blues Rock song with all their guitar and harmonica solos. However, this doesn't matter seeing as everyone is here to see the almighty Arctic Monkeys.

Alex Turner and co strut on confidently at half 9 and everyone is rocking to set opener "Do I Wanna Know". Everyone hums along to the bluesy guitar riff and the vibes inside the venue are electric. We are then treated to a mad flurry of "Brianstorm" which is excellently tight seeing as the song is very manic guitar and drums wise. The place is rocking so much that Alex Turner has to stop halfway through "Don't Sit Down Cause I Move Your Chair" so that he can tell the crowd to "move back" so that the people at the front don't get squished.

The setlist largely consists of the band's latest album "AM" and songs such as: "Snap Out Of It", "Number 1 Party Anthem", "Arabella" and "Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?" are met with a decent response. However its songs of the band's first two album that really get the crowd into a frenzy. "Fluorescent adolescence", "Dancing Shoes" and "Teddy Picker" all go down really well and everybody sings along in unison. But "I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor" goes down like the Titanic hitting an iceberg and this is the highlight of the evening.

Other highlights include: streams of confetti coming down from the ceiling during "I Wanna Be Yours", beautiful acoustic versions of "Cornerstone" and "Mardy Bum", Alex Turner's Elvis Presley voice when he spoke to the crowd and set closer "R U Mine?". Songs from albums "Suck It and See" and "Humbug" are hugely ignored through out the set which is disappointing. Another frustrating niggle is that the band don't even play their biggest sing along hit "When The Sun Goes Down".

Overall Arctic Monkeys put on a performance that was full of swagger and delight. Apart from a few annoyances here and there, the gig was pretty spectacular and anyone that's heard "AM" would've loved being there.

OVERALL RATING: 7/10