Arctic Monkeys: headlined festival on Friday night Pic: © Drew Farrell
Arctic Monkeys are an odd one, in the best way possible. When they first burst out of the gates at a disgustingly young age five or so years ago they were hailed as the next Oasis by enthusiastic (if short-sighted) critics.
The truth was that, still developing, they were a far more interesting and unpredictable proposition than such a comparison would ever suggest, as was evident by the way that they took to the stage without much fuss and then hurtled through their opening salvo of Still Take You Home and Brian Storm for their Friday night Main Stage headline sight.
Guitars buzzed away, the drums and bass had to sprint to keep up and nothing so much is evoked as the spirit of Queens of the Stone Age. (It's no coincidence that that band's frontman Josh Homme has leant his production skills to the Monkeys' last two albums.)
They sink salaciously into the swampy hard-knuckled blues riffery of Don't Sit Down 'Cause I've Moved Your Chair, groove latched onto and subsequently pummelled into the ground as the 'ooh, yeah yeah yeah' refrain flows mesmerisingly over the top.
That's not to mention the fantastic lyrical dexterity of Alex Turner, who navigates a hectic Pretty Visitors with ease, and is oceans apart from the wearisome torpidity of most chart acts repetitive mantras. It seems almost a surprise that as a whole they've managed such popularity while ploughing their trade without any notable concessions to the mainstream.
The gnarly leering rockabilly hook and veering melodies of Mardy Bum was a triumphant highlight, as was the route one simplicity of the pounding Brick By Brick. Actually, so was the more accessible (and infinitely more bizarrely named) new single The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala and that first glorious quick-fire hit of theirs I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor, and if there was one thing clear from their set, it's that Arctic Monkeys are the most rivetingly diverse and wantonly malleable British rock band of their generation. At the moment no-one comes close.
Still, it's a festival, so even with such a performance there was still an ever-present itch to go see 2manydjs destroy King Tuts Wah Wah Tent. A brief wander over proved exactly why, as the Dewaele brothers giving Love is in the Air the sort of dance heft that should rightly level foundations before Robin S's Show Me Love threatened to bring the house down, background visuals taking the original covers for each single the DJ duo played and transforming them into a constantly mutating hybrid of their fine, fine tastes.
Their Radio Soulwax project has taken on a life of its own thanks to the sorts of ecstatic receptions seen at this T in the Park, and as ever their sly mash-up trickery was a delight to behold. (Ah, Justice into New Order, feels almost classic already!) 2manydjs? Not even close.
ARCTIC MONKEYS GALLERY
