WHO THE F**K ARE THE ARCTIC MONKEYS// BRISBANE SHOW

Alluding to the lead single from The Car, a giant mirror ball hung front and center of a stage draped with large velvet curtains, the perfect backdrop to compliment the deliciously kitsch 70’s flavor the band has been rolling with for the last few years. The mosh ran thick and feisty, further endorsing the fan allegiance that was already proven by the quick sell out of the tour, paired with an overwhelming lock horns for any second hand tickets available.

The Queensland crowd grew increasingly impatient with every roadie that walked onto stage, beginning to chant for the members by name. Once the crew had decided the mob were riled up & randy enough, the slightly uncanny 1960’s Batman theme came to an abrupt halt as the lights cut off. Shadows began to emerge from the darkness, and not from the roadies this time! Seemingly playing into the ironic sex appeal of 70s’s tack, Barry Whites ‘Im Gonna Love You Just A Little Bit More Baby“ soundtracked Alex’s hip swinging stride to centrestage, and continued playing as the band settled themselves in, raising instruments to their bodies and smirking to each other as the audience roared even louder at the ooze of sarcastic sexiness.

In a complete 180 flip from what anyone expected them to do, suddenly red and white lights began flashing erratically as “The View From The Afternoon” belted the masses into action. And the fan favorite throwbacks didn’t stop there, as they continued with ‘Brianstorm’, ‘Snap Out Of It’, ‘Crying Lightning’ & ‘Don’t Sit Down ‘Cause I Moved Your Chair”.

Ok ok, so a band is playing a few of their deeper cut songs, not exactly revolutionary is it? But ernestly, I’d come along expecting a few of the hits weaved between the new album in its entirety, an album that I self admittedly have not yet given the time of day. Typically when a band that’s been releasing music for nearly 20 years comes out with new material, that’s the type of set list that you get. And fans make peace with it and still pay the big bucks to come check it anyway. But boy was I wrong. I, along with many other members of the audience, were treated to a sentimental revisit of our younger years, a youth that was soundtracked by these very songs.

Unpretentiously, the Arctic Monkeys seem to have this understanding of the importance their music plays on a person’s youth, particularly those of us a little outcast from popular society. For whatever reason, they’ve always served as some kind of quintessential starter pack for alternative kids. Ya know, the kids who were on tumblr in 2012, who smoked cigarettes in the park after school that one of their friends stole from an older sibling, kids who wore doc martens and knee socks and have either A. Had their style massively influenced by Turner’s most infamous ex Girlfriend, Alexa Chung or B. Had their taste in women was massively influenced by Turner’s most infamous ex girlfriend, Alexa Chung.

Every alternative kid has a core memory attached to an Arctic Monkeys song, even if you’re not particularly a fan. It could be belting along to ‘Fluorescent Adolescent’ during indie nights at your local club, or sending your grade 10 crush their cover of "Baby I’m Yours” and being swiftly rejected for the naive crassness. Whatever it is, they’re right there holding your hand like the older brother of music, just waiting to whisk you into a world where there is more than what’s played on the charts, a discovery that in turn teaches you about a whole new way of dressing, talking, acting and what posters will get the glory of hanging on your bedroom wall.

So, here we have three generations of misfits who have begged their parents for enough money to go and see their idols in person, and this is a tradition that clearly is still continuing. As I looked around the grassed amphitheater, you could tell the ages of people based on how hard they cheered for which song, and I couldn’t help but wonder why we all linked together. I saw 17 year olds eager to be in their first ever mosh, mingling with 35 year olds who woke up with a stiff neck from all the thrashing that ensued. Clearly, the Arctic Monkeys still have a firm grip on these various generations. Generations that are so vastly different from each other, intricately entwined with their own subcultures and niche customs; all stood there united over the same band… but how?

Well, with a band that’s been releasing music for nearly 16 years, you’d hope their music to grow and mature as they do. Never once has Alex Turner let them pool stagnant, riding off of their early success, unwilling to change their sound out of fear of losing that said success. The Arctic Monkeys sound as well as their members have metamorphosed so many times since 2007 that there really is a version of them for everyone, for every cohort.

We’ve seen just about every era of Alex Turner that all coincide with their albums, as if he reinvents himself every time he steps into the recording booth. We have English Lad era with WPSIATWIN where he looked more like an Inbetweeners character than a rockstar, the fan Favorite Humbug era, the infamous slicked quiff and leather jacket era that coincided with the release of AM, to a now tamer version of this old school rockstar ( who stayed in character the entire time by refusing to ever take off his sunglasses. ) But really the thing that keeps Arctic Monkeys relevant, is that over the evolution they never seem to have lost the charm and musical talent that secured their place in the music scene to begin with.

Maybe you found the band when they were playing in Northern English pubs singing songs about fighting bouncers and snorting packets, or maybe you only jumped on in the last year after Tik Tok made parallels between Alex and the rat from flushed away. Regardless of where along their journey you found them, I have to give my hat off to the Arctic Monkeys for providing a delicately fabricated set list that every fan, no matter what age, no matter what album was their favorite, was gassed with.

Thank-you to the band for the endless ingenuity, and for uniting music fans from every age and walk of life all over the world.