Arctic Monkeys don't go in much for hurrahs, so this last one was less a celebration than a businesslike rattle around their fast-growing catalogue. Closing another triumphant year with a handful of large-scale gigs in Aberdeen, Manchester and here, they can enter into a quiet 2008 confident that they have made being the best band in the country look so easy that it almost bores them.

This was an intimate soirée compared to summer headlining slots at Glaston-bury and the Old Trafford cricket ground. The Sheffield quartet thundered through their songs with brutality, barely pausing during an opening salvo of new song Sandtrap, This House is a Circus and Teddy Picker. Time on the road, including a huge American tour in September, has made them flawlessly tight, never stumbling as they ricocheted through the gear-changes of tracks such as Fake Tales of San Francisco.

What singer Alex Turner lacked as a compere he made up for with a biting vocal delivery that easily dominated the large room. Each song was dispatched with precision, and though the absence of any slower tracks meant the set lacked light and shade, the cumulative effect of so much speed and volume was thrilling.

The third album to come ought to be tough but this extraordinary band seem so unflappable that it's hard to imagine them being removed from their lofty perch for some considerable time.