Arctic Monkeys | Le Spectrum | Mar 22nd

It's been almost two weeks since the show and I still haven't gotten around to posting a review of this show. So, I've decided to toss in the towel and just post the pictures and a few words.

I caught the show with jds and three other friends from Montpelier. We grabbed some sushi at Jun I before the show which was pretty good. A bit pricey but the fish was buttah.

I love The Spinto Band's debut album Nice & Nicely Done but their sound was a bit thin for a large space. They need to work out their sound issues but otherwise, they were fun to watch. They have that Beatles head shake and torso swinging down pat. After their performance, I spoke to one of the guys from the band that had just graduated from Bennington College. Nice guy although he seemed shocked that there were people from Vermont at the show.

We moved a lot closer to the stage for Arctic Monkeys' set. It worked out well because we were close to the stage but just outside the pit of McGill fratboys that were bouncing around and crowd surfing. Arctic Monkeys don't have a wild stage show but those songs sounded sooooo good live. I love that album but the songs sounded even better live. It was obvious that the songs had been minted and polished while playing an endless string of pub dates before hitting it big. In fact, jds made a keen observation about the difference in sound between Arctic Monkeys and The Spintos. He pointed out that you could tell which band had guys who grew up in a working class world and which band grew up with home recording equipment and the time to explore soundscapes.

The cool part of Arctic Monkeys set was that they blasted through their set; knocking down every big song off their album. Then they said godnight and left the stage. That was it. No encore. No silly faux orchestrated return to the stage. They just banged out their songs and let us get home. With a two hours drive ahead of us, it was greatly appreciated. I wish more bands would do this. If the crowd truely goes nuts and surprises the band, go ahead and play an encore. Otherwise, just play your full set straight through and be done. Well done, Arctic Monkeys. We were home by 1:15am which is great for a Montreal show.

Oh, One other thing. I couldn't understand a single friggin' thing Alex Turner said to the crowd. That accent is thick as can be; worse than any interview with a Scottish soccer player on Sky Sports. But hilarious at the same time.