arctic monkeys, wellington town hall 13 Jan 09

keeping this blog might be the single most nerdy thing i've ever done. rejoice!

i know this because last night when i took photos at the arctic monkeys i looked around and the only people taking photos were total nerdburgers. needless to say, i was in fiiiiine company. and being a nerdburger is better than being a drunk chick trying to tell me how to get a better shot by feeling me up.

anyway, all this is just a rant before i get to my review...

arctic monkeys

due to conditions in fiji, zane lowe wasn't there to open the gig. to know what a loss this is you should check out zane lowe's website here. basically what i'm telling you is that he's a little bit adorable. but also it turns out that an opening act is essential in getting you warmed up for the headliner. so when arctic monkeys came on i simply wasn't ready. plus, when they came on it took me about five minutes to realise it was the band and not four piles of hair. these boys now all have real mop tops. i'm not a fan of the look.

anyway, i am a fan of the arctic monkeys though. have you heard the song mardy bum? how about when the sun goes down? or florescent adolescent? these are all excellent hits that zane lowe would probably call cinematic. and the reason i got tickets on the first day they went on sale.

the highlights were the songs you know. the songs that everyone knew and blissed out to. and it was bliss at times. they were all cute as buttons and alex turner attempted to engage with us and even did us the courtesy of introducing the new material. plus i thought they did a great job of looking polished even though it was their first live gig in a year.

and on the new material it is officially new zealand's greatest day as the debut of new material in wellington has made it to the arctic monkey's wikipedia page. my favourite was the dangerous animals song (it involves spelling the words dangerous animal and i think it also involves a toy piano) but on one listening amongst a crowd of sweaty white men in their 30s it is hard to tell right from wrong.

there were some down sides to last night. i've already mentioned the lack of zane lowe or a replacement opening act. the town hall might look quaint but i don't enjoy it as a concert venue (i know, i'm irreverent) and at times longed for the sticky floors of the tsb arena - mostly cos i would have had more space to dance my own secret air bass dance that i do to arctic monkey songs. also the new material, while interesting and historic and whatnot, apparently ate up the time that should have been spent singing mardy bum. that's right, they did NOT play it. and unless i passed out from bliss i don't remember fake tales of san francisco. so, i left feeling a little bit down heartened.

so, 6.5/10. but if i'm focusing on how awesome it was to actually see the arctic monkeys even for a second, i'd up it to 8/10. afterall, they have written some of my favourite songs (most of which reference simon lebon lyrics) and when his hair's a bit shorter alex turner is a total hottie.

**** post script**** i can't believe i forgot to give y'all this (especially lucie):