Wednesday 26/04/06 Arctic Monkeys @ Corn Exchange, Cambridge

On a pleasant Spring evening, in the sedate surroundings of Cambridge, a bit of carnage came to town courtesy of Sheffield’s finest, those Arctic Monkeys. Coming on stage to what is now a customarily rapturous round of fervent mayhem, they kept their traditions alive by coming on to a bellowing hip-hop beat, mumbling something totally non-descript and launching into one of their array of Arctic anthems. Opening with ‘Riot Van’ perhaps to provide the calm before the storm, ‘A View From The Afternoon’ gave the green light for their Cambridge massive to go absolutely bloody mental. The sign on the front of Matt Helder’s drum-kit, ‘The Funk Might Fracture Your Nose’, was beginning to make sense.

Alex himself seems more confident with the audience as time grows and tonight was no exception. He dedicated 'Mardy Bum' to a bloke he pointed at saying simply, “this ones for that bloke there,” and also told the crowd to liven up a bit; as soon as Turner said, “you’re all a bit quiet now aren’t ya?” the audience erupted with whoops and hollers to prove him wrong. In fact, far from being quiet or down, the band had obviously been watching local celebrities the Chuckle Brothers, as their onstage antics deteriorated from steely rock’n’roll to… well, slapstick with Matt Helders squirting a water pistol at bassist Andy Nicholson at one point. Matt then proceeded to kick his “size eight and a half adidas” trainers into the audience, offering them to the crowd as they were in mid-air; they didn’t have much choice really Matt.

The Monkeys showed their youth as they had a laugh on stage, which is always good to see because nobody likes spotty pretentious stuck-up buggers. At the end of their triumphant finale, ‘A Certain Romance’, Alex, Matt, Nick and Jamie duly walked off the stage with heads held high; throwing their towels, drumsticks and plectrums into the audience, perhaps proof that they’re not as arrogant as they’re sometimes perceived. Leaving the venue, outside there were joyous choruses of Monkeys songs being sung by lads and lasses who didn’t want the Monkey-thon to end. But sadly, it had to.