Arctic Monkeys - Manchester Central - 11/12/07 by Nadia Jaynes

It seems the boys have brought the weather with them. On a fittingly arctic December night lesser bands would fail to attract such a healthy crowd, but there’s a huge line of punters willing to freeze their nuts off in the queue outside Manchester Central just to get a glimpse of the fab foursome tonight.

The buzz surrounding The Arctic Monkeys shows no sign of waning and as a result expectations are high. The guys have a reputation for serving up no nonsense polished sets of back to back floor fillers and every week sees a different music critic hail them as the new something or other.

I found The Horrors a strange choice as support – they’re the exact opposite of everything The Arctic Monkeys stand for – if they spent less time doing their hair and concocting an image they might have time to write a few decent songs. Most of the crowd here at Manchester Central seem to agree with me as their set is met with boo’s and a faint sympathetic spattering of applause – and I’m sure they only got that for dodging the majority of random missiles fired at them by the dissatisfied audience.

The gig starts off well with the lads mixing up the new with the old and perfecting each track with ease. As anticipated I’ll Bet You Look Good, Dancing Shoes and When The Sun Goes Down are met with the usual cheers, air punching and plastic pint pot throwing associated with the approval of a testosterone fuelled crowd. Alex Turner intersperses his set with a bit more banter than we’ve seen at past performances – and it seems he’s finding his voice. But half way through the gig his mood turns a little sour and he appears to bait the crowd.

Now I’m not sure if he’s been chucked by Chung (his annoying plummy gobbed TV Presenter bird) but something definitely changed between them leaving the stage and the encore. Their performance on returning to the stage was – dare I say it mediocre??? It was a minor blip in what was otherwise a great show – but try not to get complacent lads – fast-track success and being arse kissed by the british media has been the downfall of many a band before you. Although it has to be said – the terrible acoustics in Manchester Central certainly added to their woes.

It was a shame to finish the show on such a bum note – could it be that The Arctics are getting a little frosty? Surely not.