Believe the Hype - Arctic Monkeys, The Astoria 06/10/05
A recent BBC review of the Arctic Monkeys set during this year's Reading festival observed the following; 'everyone who hears the Arctic Monkeys becomes a dedicated messenger on a quest for more people to jump on the bandwagon and what a wagon it is'.
This is a fitting description of my own experience, pushed onto the bandwagon by my brother Danny who had recently jumped on after Binyon's recommendation. Last Thursday's gig was superb, an amazing experience. The Arctic Monkeys hype is reaching a crescendo in the music press at the mo, but it was word of mouth from those who had been to a gig or downloaded some of their music online that initially propelled them to a packed Astoria.
This band has only released one limited edition single, yet the whole venue was singing along word for word to the majority of their set. The astonishment could even be seen on the faces of the Sheffield teenagers, when they weren't dodging flying beer cans (two of which hit the unfortunate Captain Beancod aka Danny). I think it might have been the first time that the immensity of the bandwagon that they are driving really sunk in.
Pretentious Guardian critic Betty Clarke describes the AMs as 'the first download superstars' and aptly describes them as having 'fused the best of the two most iconic bands of the past decade Oasis's gift for anthemic melodies meets polished-up Libertines' rhythms under Turner's taunting sneer, but it's the brutal bruised lyrics iced with northern sensibilities that set Arctic Monkeys apart.' Yet Ms Clarke only gave the gig 3/5 stars in her review, bet you a tenner she is a Londoner and maybe (hopefully) she got hit by one of the flying cans that influenced her opinion.
Despite the internet maybe depriving EMI and Universal shareholders of a few bob, I reckon its been a godsend for bands like the Monkeys. Would such a rapid rise to fame have been possible ten years ago in the pre internet era? OK maybe you wont make as much money on album and single sales given the levels of internet piracy but when tickets for you first London gig are going on EBay for £100+ suggests that a very lucrative live music career awaits you.
Indie gigs being unfamiliar territory for me I observed the following;
-These IndieRock gigs are big sweaty 'sword fights'! There are about 10 lads for every girl who is usually there with her bloke anyway. As such I now appreciate more the link between being a KGN* and an Indie boy, touched upon in the previous 'musical ignoramus' post. Maybe these lads should get themselves down School Disco once in a while to bring some equilibrium to their adolescent lives.
- Football fans do not have the best reputation in the world particularly in the UK, however if I threw beer cans, crowd surfed or jumped into all those around me at Bramall lane, I would get thrown out and banned from the ground and more than likely arrested and cautioned. Double Standards!
- Indie kids' appearance is almost as homogeneous as that of chavs, in fairness it is not ugly, aggressive, ridiculous-looking and circus clown-esque like the latter's, but it is still very hard to note any individuality between the same haircuts, polo shirts and/or tracky tops, jeans and trainers.
Track 2# for the life soundtrack is 'Fake Tales of San Francisco' , as it really sums up those really annoying people you often cross paths with that incessantly go on about themselves and what they've done where they've been...........and incidentaly......did you know?..errrrr...... I lived in San Francisco for 3 months.
* KGN = King Get None (Rei Peganingue em Portugues)
This is a fitting description of my own experience, pushed onto the bandwagon by my brother Danny who had recently jumped on after Binyon's recommendation. Last Thursday's gig was superb, an amazing experience. The Arctic Monkeys hype is reaching a crescendo in the music press at the mo, but it was word of mouth from those who had been to a gig or downloaded some of their music online that initially propelled them to a packed Astoria.
This band has only released one limited edition single, yet the whole venue was singing along word for word to the majority of their set. The astonishment could even be seen on the faces of the Sheffield teenagers, when they weren't dodging flying beer cans (two of which hit the unfortunate Captain Beancod aka Danny). I think it might have been the first time that the immensity of the bandwagon that they are driving really sunk in.
Pretentious Guardian critic Betty Clarke describes the AMs as 'the first download superstars' and aptly describes them as having 'fused the best of the two most iconic bands of the past decade Oasis's gift for anthemic melodies meets polished-up Libertines' rhythms under Turner's taunting sneer, but it's the brutal bruised lyrics iced with northern sensibilities that set Arctic Monkeys apart.' Yet Ms Clarke only gave the gig 3/5 stars in her review, bet you a tenner she is a Londoner and maybe (hopefully) she got hit by one of the flying cans that influenced her opinion.
Despite the internet maybe depriving EMI and Universal shareholders of a few bob, I reckon its been a godsend for bands like the Monkeys. Would such a rapid rise to fame have been possible ten years ago in the pre internet era? OK maybe you wont make as much money on album and single sales given the levels of internet piracy but when tickets for you first London gig are going on EBay for £100+ suggests that a very lucrative live music career awaits you.
Indie gigs being unfamiliar territory for me I observed the following;
-These IndieRock gigs are big sweaty 'sword fights'! There are about 10 lads for every girl who is usually there with her bloke anyway. As such I now appreciate more the link between being a KGN* and an Indie boy, touched upon in the previous 'musical ignoramus' post. Maybe these lads should get themselves down School Disco once in a while to bring some equilibrium to their adolescent lives.
- Football fans do not have the best reputation in the world particularly in the UK, however if I threw beer cans, crowd surfed or jumped into all those around me at Bramall lane, I would get thrown out and banned from the ground and more than likely arrested and cautioned. Double Standards!
- Indie kids' appearance is almost as homogeneous as that of chavs, in fairness it is not ugly, aggressive, ridiculous-looking and circus clown-esque like the latter's, but it is still very hard to note any individuality between the same haircuts, polo shirts and/or tracky tops, jeans and trainers.
Track 2# for the life soundtrack is 'Fake Tales of San Francisco' , as it really sums up those really annoying people you often cross paths with that incessantly go on about themselves and what they've done where they've been...........and incidentaly......did you know?..errrrr...... I lived in San Francisco for 3 months.
* KGN = King Get None (Rei Peganingue em Portugues)
posted by Matt at 1:57 PM
4 Comments:
They have played London a few times now, but the first time was February this year.
Also I don't like the imagery of *captain beancod placed above **KGN at the bottom of the blog...even if it is factually correct.
(Have left my gang's web address in this email...though it badly needs updating)
Can't kick a man when he is down will edit that! Cheers for the clarification; The Monkeys' third London gig! not first, just that Ho Betty at the Guardian was so patronising it seemed to imply that it was their first gig in the crapital.
Mush, your blog is pretentious as hell.
That said... Arctic Monkeys are AMAZING!
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