If you believe the like of NME, this is the current generation's Very Big Rock Show. Equivalent, perhaps, to Oasis at Knebworth in 1996, The Stone Roses at Spike Island in 1990, or The Rolling Stones at Hyde Park in 1969.
At a more modern glance, its a big band returning back to the big summer outdoor spectacular. It's easy to forget Arctic Monkeys have been here before, given they did two nights at Manchester's Old Trafford cricket stadium on the 2007 tour for Favourite Worst Nightmare, and two shows at a custom-built tent in Sheffield on the 2011 Suck it and See Tour.
This is also the first time Arctic Monkeys have done a big outdoor London show, after many previous visits for arena tours, and it probably won't be the last - one might argue they could be big enough to put on a Wembley Stadium residency like Eminem and One Direction are doing this summer.
As well as being the band's initials, AM was also the catalyst for this big pair of concerts, which is part of a bigger tour that later takes in a Reading and Leeds Festivals headline appearance in August. The band's 5th album was a number one success on release last September and its tracks draw the big reactions straight from the first electronic snare of show opener Do I Wanna Know.
This opens the show in an impressive way, as the black wall the audience was starting at spins around to reveal the quartet (upped to five with a live keyboard player) thrashing away on the anthem, which made it's radio debut exactly 365 days previously.
AM seems to be the big draw. After that opening singalong, the band rattle through the spindly Snap Out of It and the big and sexy Arabella - replete with a sample of Black Sabbath's War Pigs - and all 3 of them are greeted by the 40,000 crowd with roars of approval and swell of bouncing in the pit.
The raucous nature of the audience is clearly evident in the lager (and piss) lobbing crowd that is enjoying bouncing high into the sky, and this crowd seems to get it's moments to do so with the likes of the rowdy Brianstorm, the brute force of Don't Sit Down Cause I've Moved Your Chair, the spindly-but-hefty Dancing Shoes and the pick n mix-comedown rocker Crying Lightning.
The strengths of the band are all on show in this myriad of ditties, ranging from drummer Matt Helders' titanic drum riffs - particularly on Brianstorm and the clattering intro to Library Pictures - to the stern buzzy bees seeping out of Nick O'Malley's bass guitar, and the duo's impressive falsetto vocals to compliment the frontman's baritone.
The immediate vision on stage is not frontman Alex Turner but is instead rhythm guitarist Jamie Cook, who is decked from head to toe in a neon white suit. By contrast, the singer and fangirls affection target Alex Turner has toned down from the Yorkshire Elvis look he took to Glastonbury and Earl's Court last year, preferring a more sober haircut and a black jacket covered in flowers to the suave black suits he wore at those shows.
Much like the acoustics, the AM material has a hit and miss quality at times. Fireside is a beautifully melancholic composition, but the preceding Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High is not what it could be.
Old classic I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor remains a tune with the appeal to inspire a crowd into raucous insanity, even with the reduced tempo. But surprisingly, a lot of the strength of this gig is in the tranquil portion that follows that oldie.
The late-night heartache of No. 1 Party Anthem is a beautifully worked piano and acoustic guitar tune, while Cornerstone is also delightful. This is before the sing-a-long of Fluorescent Adolescent and a surprisingly Kane-less 505 to end the main set.
The big surprise comes at the start of the encore, as Turner strides alone onto the stage for a brief solo run-through of debut album closing track A Certain Romance.
Things then neatly culminate with a trio from AM - the last of which is the delightful R U Mine, with its riffs, addictive sing-a-long choruses and the latest tune to have a laser light show.
While it is a delightful conclusion, for the ticket price and hype, this could and should be much longer than 90 minutes. AM's rock contemporaries like Coldplay, Muse, Kings of Leon, The Killers and Biffy Clyro all play at least 100 minutes in their arena shows, nevermind the 3 hour sets the likes Prince and Bruce Springsteen deliver.
The crowd before them would certainly have welcomed a dip into obscure ditties that have been out of the reckoning for a while, and considering there was a 45 minute interval, the band should've strode on earlier and played at least 3-4 new songs.
It's fine for Arctic Monkeys to move on from their first 2 records - of which only 6 tracks make appearances tonight - but it's conceivable that something older and different to the likes of Dancefloor should've been dug up. It was impressive when tunes like Fake Tales of San Francisco and Old Yellow Bricks were dug out of the cupboard for Glastonbury, and an effort like that would've been very welcome here.
The underwhelming acoustics also do not help, and some songs are hurt by an underwhelming acoustic property that could've been better than it should've been. Admittedly, it was an improvement on Earl's Court, where a failure to hear bass above a faint nondescript rumble left most the songs anonymous. But the sonic touches were not what they could've been.
That's not to deny this was a good show. The production was more impressive than the one deployed at Earl's Court, with the LED rendition of the AM logo providing a delightful visual backdrop, while the laser light show in particular was very impressive, and the band is a tightly-coiled live machine.
The Arctic Monkeys 2014 live machine does deliver a good show. But for all the hype, anticipation, ticket price and the rest, they could and should have used their live arsenal to deliver much much more.
3/5/5
Also playing were three acts that AM have been known fans of, and are also themselves gearing up for a busy summer on the festival circuit.
Headline support was Australian five-piece Tame Impala, who bought their abstract psychedelic rock to proceedings. But in the big park vibe, something was lost amongst the rarefied North London air, with their performance - not helped by singer Kevin Parker's flu - suffering the most from the acoustics. In truth, it takes a final trio of Elephant, Feels Like We Only Go Backwards and closer Apocalypse Dreams to wake up a sleepy crowd.
Long time Monkeys' collaborator and friend of the band Miles Kane is much more adept at getting the crowd in motion. He maybe missing his best song First of My Kind, but the crowd laps up his anthemic squawks, and inspires the first major frenzy of the day. A scintillating medley of Give Up and The Rolling Stones classic Sympathy for the Devil is a particular highlight.
Opening up the day's musical festivities were Brighton duo Royal Blood, who received nationwide exposure when Monkeys drummer Helders wore an RB t-shirt on stage at Glastonbury last year. The band's mix of hefty bass guitar and walloping drums is much better indoors but on a stage like this, it does do a good job of holding it's own, and it is a major pleasure to hear the likes of Little Monster and Out of the Black stomping across the park and getting the odd mosher to join in.
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