Sheffield four piece Arctic Monkeys will play their two biggest gigs in the capital this coming May. Coming off the back 2013s huge success with AM, Alex Turner, Matt Helders, Jaime Cook and Nick O’Malley kick off a summer of festivals at London’s Finsbury Park.
The boys from High Green have very little left to tick off their bucket list, number one albums, reinventions, glasto headline sets have all been checked off, even an Olympic opening ceremony. This summer also sees them headline their first ever US festival in the shape of Lollapalooza, what is left? Perhaps a timeless performance for the ages in the same vein as Oasis at Knebworth in ’96 or The Chili Peppers at Slane Castle in ‘03, can the Arctic Monkeys at Finsbury Park follow these iconic footsteps?
No longer promoting their fifth studio album, will a giant pyrotechnic ‘AM’ adorn the stage in London as it did on their tour? The Monkeys time promoting AM saw lead Alex Turner increasingly move away from the guitar, after a break, will this continue to be the case? Will we see more of the confident showmanship, a la his now infamous Brits speech, continue to seep its way into his performance
With stellar support coming in the form of Miles Kane (‘505’ to close, surely!), Tame Impala and Royal Blood, their two-day stint in London becomes a festival in itself. Fitting as it precedes a string of headlining performances this summer, for which the Monkeys will hope to hit the ground running.
