Arctic Monkeys Live

Be Your Own Pet and The Arctic Monkeys : Live at Avalon in Boston 5-13-07

So I'll start off by saying that I originally had high expectations for this show. Those high expectations then turned to fear that I was hoping for too much and that I would be severely let down. Thankfully, they were actually met and exceeded last night.

I was a little late getting to the Avalon thanks to traffic, but luckily, the bands were even later getting started. It got kicked off with Be Your Own Pet THRASHING through Bunk Trunk Skunk (available below for your thrashing pleasure) and about a half hour of material from their debut album as well as a couple new songs. To be honest, I'm not sure that the crowd knew what to make of the group. There was some muted cheering between songs, but the crowd was about as animated as a corpse. Seriously. Take a listen to Bunk Trunk Skunk and tell me if it is a song that you can listen to while standing still. The crowd was just there. No arms pumping in the air. No bodies jumping up and down. Nothing. Thankfully Jemina Pearl had enough energy to make up for the crowd with no pulse. I was simply amazed at how petite she was while at the same time just getting crazy up on stage. I don't think she stood still for a second. Jemina, accept my apologies from the city of Boston - next time they'll know what to expect and we can feed into what you're pumping onstage.


Be Your Own Pet - Bunk Trunk Skunk : Be Your Own Pet

Be Your Own Pet - Wildcat (live) : Be Your Own Pet (available via iTunes album download)

Visit their website and become their friend on MySpace.

After a reasonably short break, the Arctic Monkeys took the stage. I'll say that the boys sounded just as good live as they do on album, especially for how loud their show was. Vocals were dead on and front and center, while the rest of the band were still getting their groove on. Although the crowd needed to be jump started when BYOP were on the stage, they finally came alive for the Monkeys. I apologize for the fuzzy pictures above (thanks Becca for the much better pictures), but having gotten there late, my spot in the crowd was less than enviable, and it only got worse once people started pushing to get forward once the boys started playing. Their set lasted for a little over an hour, and from as best as I can remember included the following (not in the order listed - if you were there and I missed some (which I'm sure I did), let me know):

From their last album:
I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor
Still Take You Home
Dancing Shoes
Bigger Boys And Stolen Sweethearts
When The Sun Goes Down (Scummy Man)
From The Ritz To The Rubble
Fake Tales Of San Francisco
A Certain Romance
The View From The Afternoon

From their latest album:
If You Found This It's Probably Too Late (off the Brianstorm EP)
Brianstorm
Teddy Picker
D is for Dangerous
Balaclava
Fluorescent Adolescent
This House Is A Circus
The Bad Thing
Do Me A Favour
If You Were There, Beware

As you can see, they played quite a collection of crowd favorites from the last album as well as some new ones. At this point I would normally post some songs for you to jam to while reading this post, but I'd rather not anger the Monkeys' management - we all know they can be a little touchy about that sort of thing. Instead I'll tell you to pick up their newest album, Favourite Worst Nightmare (as if you don't have it already!), and catch them live if they haven't already sold you their show near you.

Visit their website, their label Domino Records, and become their friend on MySpace.

Again, super special thanks to Becca for taking the time to send me the pictures and add a few songs to the setlist that I missed!