Last Night: Arctic Monkeys + Screaming Females; Alexa Chung

The bitter New York cold did not deter the Arctic Monkeys' (crazy) fans from packing up Terminal 5 in midtown west last night. In anticipation of this, I took to the second floor balcony, which was in direct line of the venue's curved speakers. Bad choice. Got blasted by supersaturated, muddy sound and a horrible mix.

Advance warning: all pictures are noisy and point-and-shooty. Venue does not allow SLRs. Although it turns out I could've easily gotten it in...



Above is the opener, Screaming Females, a New Jersey garage band. Pretty rough tunes. The lead singer is 5'2, the only girl in the three-piece, a pretty rad guitarist and a literal screaming female. She actually screeched. I don't even know how to describe it.

**

The Arctic Monkeys came on twenty minutes late. The floor looked absolutely insane. The most moshing I've ever seen. Five crowd surfers, several fallen moshers; a shoe, a shirt, a bra and a rolled poster thrown on stage.






The show itself was just alright. They got up and played their songs. The new stuff isn't danceable, but some of the old favorites (including Brainstorm, I Bet that You Look Good on the Dancefloor, This House is a Circus...) got everyone pretty riled up.

Oh and Alexa Chung:



The Setlist:

The Jeweller’s Hands
Brianstorm
This House is a Circus
Still Take You Home
Potion Approaching
Red Right Hand (Nick Cave cover)
My Propeller
Crying Lightning
Sketchead
I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor
The View from the Afternon
Cornerstone
If You Were There, Beware
Pretty Visitors
Do Me a Favour
Fluorescent Adolescent –> Last Christmas (cover) –> Fluorescent Adolescent

Encore:
Secret Door
505

I'm really glad they closed with 505. It's one of my favorites.

Matt the drummer sang the Last Christmas cover:

VIDEO: Arctic Monkeys - "Cornerstone"

Alex Turner preforms Humbug's endearing second single "Cornerstone", with the help of a red turtleneck, a white background, and vintage gear.

Somehow, it's mesmerizing.

All Points West - Saturday

Super muddy.
Super humid.
At least it didn't rain!
Anyway,

The Postelles were playing in the Queen of the Valley stage/tent right near the entrance as I arrived (late). Caught a few songs..they're finished recording!




Arctic Monkeys on the Blue Comet Stage. This was a muddy and crazy packed set. It was really hot, people were tossing around mud covered beach balls and the stage was so far away with a photo and VIP pits built in front of the barrier.
But the set was pretty good. They played all of their singles and were chatting it up.

Terrible pictures & sight lines ensue..AND Alex Turner's moppy haircut is not cute anymore :(



I headed back over to the Queen of the Valley stage after to wait it out for Tokyo Police Club.
Stopped on the way to watch St. Vincent from afar for a little bit, she sounded really great (didn't get pictures though)




In the tent, The Honey Brothers were on the stage playing their last song for a very small crowd. They seemed like really nice guys. The drummer looked like Vince from Entourage. (edit: it actually WAS Vince from Entourage!!)



Next, Chairlift took the stage 20 minutes late (you know, the iPod commercial band- I tired to do handstands for you, every time I fell on you..) The dummer/bassist looked like Casey Affleck! It was shaping up to be quite a celebrity-look-alike day.
I have to say, this band is really cute. But they really had to turn down their bass/bass drum/synth. Everybody was covering their ears. The whole tent was shaking. It was unbearable for a few songs.




Then, Tokyo Police Club! This was the third set that I had seen them play and definitely the best one. During Honey Brothers I had gotten a spot in the front. So worth standing through Chairlift for TPC. Got a few good pictures this time.







After the TPC set I went to talk to Graham (keys), Josh (guitar) and Greg (drums) once they finished load-out. No Dave (vocals/bass) though. They were so friendly. Chatted with Graham for a few minutes about solo projects and TPC recording. But I forgot to ask about NOVELS!! (That's the solo EP with Luke from the Born Ruffians and a couple other Canadian indie guys that recorded it over 24 hours.) Grr.

scrooge

Arctic Monkeys, your favorite kids from Sheffield, are
back and pressing their new album Humbug like
woah. We're talking big tour (including headlining
several festivals in Europe and the US) and a special
online gig via their official website to showcase tracks
from the album on July 30 at 9pm BST.

Trailer for the gig here.
Your concert time HERE

remember when you used to be a rascal?

ARCTIC MONKEYS!

Fluorescent Adolescent
is my favorite
oldie-but-goody indie single
of the moment.

So! Here's an acoustic version of said song,
live from a midwestern NPR.

YAY...click here for some Arctic action!