ARCTIC MONKEYS EPIC GLASTO SET & TOUR 2013

Wow. Wow. Wow. What. A. Corker. Of. A. Headline.

That set was truly out of this world.

Twelve hours later and I'm still on a high, an Arctic Monkeys induced haze, because how could we,

as Arctic Monkeys fans, have asked for anything better than what they gave us last night?

Hit after hit after hit, truly phenomenal showmanship from Alex (did you like those dramatic hair combs eh?), electrifying atmosphere, Helders' intense, pulsing drumming, Nick and Jamie's scorching guitar slides and riffs.... This was a coming of age show alright.

Before the Monkeys walked on stage my heart was pounding with excitement.

The red record light on my Sky Plus box was flashing, my foot was tapping away, my mother was zonked out on the sofa. And then... they walked onstage, and the last two year wait meant nothing as feelings of excitement, love and inner celebratory screaming took over.

They were finally there. And they were ready to blow our socks off.

We've been waiting for this set since March and all day yesterday was agonising as the clock edged nearer and nearer to 10:15pm. In all honesty, I was afraid that this set had been bigged up so much that it surely couldn't live up to expectation but I am so, so glad to say I was proved wrong. 

By song number two, 'Brianstorm', I was having an eargasm on the floor.

'Don't Sit Down...' had me doing karate moves at the TV screen.

'Brick By Brick' I was pummeling my fists and shaking my head like a possessed tribal warrior.

My mother, who by now had woken up, stared at me like I was a new breed of UFO and damn she was right. The Monkeys really were possessing me. 

The music was filling me up, taking over my body, zapping through my veins.

Life really could not get any better than it did last night.

Alex was the perfect showman, working the crowd who were literally in the palm of his hand.

He requested they sing a rendition of 'Happy Birthday' to his mum Penny, which they duly did, and I'm pretty sure if he asked them to pop down to ASDA and get him a roast chicken, they would have.

Even us sat watching him on the TV were entranced like little zombies, watching our leader and obeying his every command. In my last AM's article I mentioned how the Monkeys have matured and really come into their own, and this set demonstrated that perfectly.

Just watch it and you'll know exactly what I mean.

The Monkeys were having a whale of a time, the crowd was dying of epicness overload, the music had a life of it's own. Everything came together in those one and a half hours and the result was a set that will surely go down in Glasto history. I know I'll never forget it.

Oh and who could resist a strings version of 'Cornerstone' and  'Mardy Bum'?

If I was having an eargasm before, well right then I was having an ear attack because it was just perfection.

Guy Garvey certainly spun his magic into that one. 

Of course the addition of Miles Kane and his metal incased finger to perform the much adored riffs of 505, 

wrapped up the epic show in true Monkeys style and made sure every single person both at Glasto, or watching it from behind a screen, went to bed last night 100% satisfied in every way possible.

It was a magical night and of course today we have the Rolling Stones headlining and they'll be sure to crank the mightiness of Glastonbury up by more than a few notches.

Now if you're a Monkeys fan, maybe a slightly obsessed one like myself, you'll be aware of the following key dates: 5th July and 9th September. 

The first is the day UK tour tickets go on-sale and trust me, if you want to see the AM's live, you're gonna have to get in quick because those tickets are going to sell like hotcakes.

If they hadn't just done Glasto, I wouldn't be so worried, but with that platform, you will have your hardcore Monkey fans vying for tickets and your nostalgic Monkey fans who just want to see the old school hits like 'I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor' or 'Fluorescent Adolescent' played live once again. 

You really need to get in there as fast as you can my friends.

Keep and eye out for pre-sale and if you miss that, 9am sharp be on the web, credit card in hand, ready to buy, because if Glasto is anything to go by, you really don't want to miss out on an opportunity to see the Monkeys live. As for the album 'AM', just head online to pre-order and you shouldn't have any problem with that whatsoever.

So that's all, hope you enjoyed the set as much as I did,

and lets hold our fists up to the UK's best band as of now. 

ALL HAIL THE MONKEYS OO-OOO-OOOO.

The setlist:

'Do I Wanna Know?'

'Brianstorm'
'Dancing Shoes'
'Don't Sit Down Cause I've Moved Your Chair'
'Teddy Picker'
'Crying Lightning'
'Brick By Brick'
'Fake Tales Of San Francisco'
'She's Thunderstorms'
'Old Yellow Bricks'
'Pretty Visitors'
'I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor'
'Do Me A Favour'
'R U Mine?'
'Mad Sounds'
'Fluorescent Adolescent'
'A Certain Romance'
'Cornerstone
'Mardy Bum'
'When The Sun Goes Down'
'505'
Pictures/info from: http://www.nme.com/news/arctic-monkeys/71138#A1ZoV2BZil5TrpIj.99 

WEBSITE: http://www.arcticmonkeys.com/

Glasto: http://www.bbc.co.uk/events/ej58q9

CORNERSTONE LIVE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuONLLVbbJI
MARDY BUM: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwNTuPTXaJ0

NEW SONGS (& MAD SOUNDS) FROM ARCTIC MONKEYS

Okay so it's time for yet another Monkeys update!

I'm sorry as it's all I seem to be writing about lately but this is rather important stuff, so it's getting pride of place. Now I'm writing today because over this weekend, the Monkeys have debuted another new song, 'Mad Sounds', at their two Scandinavian festival dates and I really urge you to take a listen to it.

Although the song only exists through fan footage at the moment, the song still shines through and it's good enough quality for you to be able to reach a valid conclusion on the song itself.

When I read that the Monkeys had debuted another song, as I conducted my daily NME stalk at college this morning, I literally jumped up and down in my seat- and I was in the library too (gasp!). 

And when I saw it was called 'Mad Sounds', I was expecting some crazy ass tune like 'Brick by Brick' or something related to the brash, loud, catchy little numbers on 'Favourite Worst Nightmare'.

I was wrong. 

Contrary to what the title suggests, this new tune is ironically probably the furthest away from a mad sound you could get. I don't quite know what Mr Turner means when he says 'Mad Sounds', as fan footage makes it difficult to depict his lyrics. But he certainly doesn't mean the song itself.

'Mad Sounds' is a little but slower with links to 'Suck It And See' here and there although it's still keeping in line with the sound heard on 'Do I Wanna Know'. In all honesty, it sounds great.
I for one was very impressed and enthusiastically tapped my foot along whilst nodding my head in a very approving manner indeed.

The Monkeys have currently upgraded previous newbie 'Do I Wanna Know' to top of the bill whilst 'Mad Sounds' has been slotted between 'Suck It and See' and 'R U Mine'. The positioning of 'Mad Sounds' in the setlist seems to be deliberate as it does provide a perfect transition between the two songs.

When listening to 'Mad Songs' you can hear distinct elements from both songs, as I noted in particular some Suck It & See-esque riffs and sounds that seemed to have an 'R U Mine'-esque overlay. 

If this is the direction the AM's are choosing to head in then I can definitely agree that they've chosen a fabulous route to go down. It's just fantastic, it really is.

Their sound has evolved in the sense that it's more mature and as Alex and co. edge nearer their thirties, this was only inevitable. The relief is that like a good piece of cheese or wine, time is doing wonders for their sound, it really is. It's mellower, maturer and almost wiser, as if they are completely in control. 

It's self assured and we all know Alex is a fan of a good croon, especially as his covers tend to be of softer, richer, accoustic led records that clearly suit his versatile voice. 

But don't you worry, I'm pretty certain that album number five will have a couple of 'Brick by Brick' like bangers here and there. 

It is the Arctic Monkeys after all.

And finally as for the Arctic Monkeys timeline, I have to make a few amendments:

'Do I Wanna Know' now has an official video on You Tube and as of today can be bought
officially on iTunes! It's sounding absolutely fantastic and with the proper sound quality
you'll find you can appreciate the record a whole lot more.

So it seems that the Monkeys are taking advantage of the Glasto platform after all.

If anything, it will build up hype for the new album as Glasto is such a major festival both here in the UK and worldwide. Obviously 'Do I Wanna Know' and 'Mad Sounds' are going to be on the bill, and I would think another newbie or two will probably be added as well.

It's likely a major music magazine, probably NME, will do some sort of feature on Glasto and the Monkeys, within the next few weeks too so keep your eyes open!

From what I can tell, this album will probably be the one to propel the Monkeys to that last step of being the  best British band out there. They've practically there anyway, but I'm positive that this album will be the one to cement that status for definite. 

I ain't monkeying around.

(Bad pun, but I don't think you 'wanna know')

Ha.

MAD SOUNDS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dS6GtoJNks
OFFICIAL VIDEO FOR 'DO I WANNA KNOW: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpOSxM0rNPM
BUY THE SONG: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/do-i-wanna-know-single/id660331528?affId=1930871
OTHER ARCTIC MONKEYS INFO: http://teepotmusic.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/new-arctic-monkeys-tune-monkeys-are-back.html
WEBSITE: http://www.arcticmonkeys.com/
NME: http://www.nme.com/news/arctic-monkeys/70884

ARCTIC MONKEYS NEW ALBUM AND GLASTO 2013

This is one of my 'bullet bites' where I give you a snippet of information, a tad like that scrawled upon the post-it note stuck to your fridge, and you clap your hands in excitement, do a groovy dance, whatever floats your boat, and we're all happy.

So today's bullet bite is on: ARCTIC MONKEYS.

(aka. my favourite band)

We now have official confirmation from Mr Matt Helders himself that the Monkeys are working on their fifth (cor blimey eh?!) album somewhere in the beautifully vast United States of America, home of Mr Prezz, hamburgers galore and the patriotic eagle among many things.

Albeit rather a long way from their hometown of Sheffield where their phenomenally successful debut album 'Whatever People Say I Am That's What I'm Not' was created, this new album is most likely to follow in the vein of records like 'R U Mine' and 'Electricity' according to Mr Turner.
But will it be a progression from 2011's 'Suck It And See' or 2009's 'Humbug'? Because with producer Josh Homme's hand reportedly making an appearance in the creation of this next record, many music moguls are speculating that out of the two, it is probably more likely to be another 'Humbug'-esque affair.

Here at the Tee Pot, we're thinking the Monkeys next record will see the sound that shone through on records such as 'R U Mine', 'Brick By Brick' and 'Electricity' be spectacularly and effortlessly combined with a touch of the essence seen on 'Humbug' to create a record that takes the Monkeys in a slightly different direction to what we expect.
By looking back at their previous four albums it is quite obvious to see that Alex and the boys like to explore, experiment and exercise their various ideas, sounds and directions; it's how they got from the bold, observational, anecdotal and quirky 'Whatever People Say I Am That's What I'm Not' to the psychedelic  hypnotic, transe-like 'Suck It And See'.
Developing their sound is what they do best so record number five is not likely to be exempt from their hunger to keep evolving their sound.
But what direction have they chosen to take it in?
That is the burning question on everyone's lips.

But then again, what about this business with all these new tour dates? I hear you ask me.
That's the question that's burning on my lips, I hear you shout.
Well mine too  my friend, mine too.
And so I have been trying to piece this puzzle together and seeing as I have googled 'Arctic Monkeys new album 2013' at least once a week since last September, I have been in a prime position to receive any new snippets of information the Monkeys have released as soon as they have been released.
So what have I found out?

Well February saw the Monkeys announce a rather large handful of tour dates for the USA and major European festivals in Croatia, Poland, the Netherlands, Portugal, France, Austria, Italy.
But what about England, the country in which they were born and raised?
What about us?
Well you see, one has noticed (Queenie's language for you there), that the Monkeys have conveniently managed to keep the weekend of the 28th- 30th of June free from their current list of gigs.
This may not seem like a big deal at first, but when you realise that Glasto 2013 is being held on these specific dates *wink wink* and with the rumour mill in a frenzy that the Monkeys are set to be surprise headliners on Friday 28th *another wink wink*, here at Tee Pot we are certain this is where the Monkeys are going to make their first major UK appearance this year.
Positive.
We're on to you here at the Tee Pot, you pesky little Monkeys, like Sherlock tracking his suspect.
And if we're wrong, we'll do the walk of shame all the way to Maccy D's and buy you whatever McFlurry you want.
Pinky promise.

Now with August onwards being kept clear and with Helders stating that an album made in 2013 should be released in 2013, this album is definitely on the way (hallelujah!) and we reckon Autumn 2013 will see it's arrival if it's finished by festival season, or winter 2013 if the tail end of summer is being used by the Monkeys to add any finishing touches.
Either way, if Helders has any say in it, we're getting this album by the end of this year and that, my friend, makes me very happy.

So fingers crossed for a Glasto appearance in June, keep an eye out at the end of May as that is when any new material will leak if it is indeed ready, eyes on Autumn for an album release and I think we all know that whatever direction this album has taken, it's going to sound EPIC.

WEBSITE: http://www.arcticmonkeys.com/
REGULAR UPDATES: http://www.nme.com/


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FOR MORE ARCTIC MONKEYS NEWS VISIT:
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