I remember seeing Franz Ferdinand’s first Melbourne show at the Palace and I thought that I would never see an audience as anxious to see a band as on that occasion. I was proven wrong with this gig, as the crowd here were practically salivating to see their heroes from Sheffield, The Arctic Monkeys. 

But first it was The Grates who took to the stage and it seems that as they continue to improve, their leading lady Patience Hodgson’s stage persona gets more frenetic. But you can’t deny their sweet melodies and they did a solid job of getting the crowd ready for the main course.

The Monkeys wandered onto the stage at 10.30, to the sounds of cheesy 80’s synthetisers with all the nonchalance of someone clocking in to go to work. The first thing that really struck me was just how young they are! Alex Turner looked like he should have been at home tucked in bed instead of playing in front of hundreds of screaming fans. He sauntered up to the mic and strummed the opening chords of ‘The Riot Van’.  This acted as the calm before the storm, as it was immediately followed by ‘View From The Afternoon’ which resulted in absolute bedlam with the crowd moshing and singing every word.

The band played all the tracks from their now classic debut album and the live versions of these tracks sounded even tighter than on the album. Seeing them live made you appreciate the eclectic nature of their songs that incorporate elements of Britpop, grunge, funk and reggae.  ‘Fake tales of San Francisco’ was a highlight for it’s sheer dance-ability and Turner’s poetic phrasing. ‘I Bet That You Look Good On The Dance Floor’ was an absolute riot live and is destined to be THE song that the Monkeys will have to play till the end of their days.

But the group saved their biggest salvos for last with ‘Mardy Bum’, ‘When the Sun Goes Down’ and the shimmering ‘A Certain Romance’ serving as killer way to end their set. The band left the stage after exactly an hour knowing that they can add Melbourne to their growing list of conquests.

It will be interesting to see where the Arctic Monkeys go from here. One fears that they might end up like Oasis and use all their great songs for the first album and creatively run out of gas in the future. But this thought can be discussed in the Fasterlouder forums. All I know is that I managed to catch them at their prime and they delivered a great rock show. And I am also sure that to all the people that attended this show, that was all that mattered.