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An awesome and ridiculous film that leaves you thrilled beyond the point of your natural endurance
2012
Theatre
The show has suddenly become quite wonderful, and the galvanising factor is the terrific stage debut of Melanie C
Blood Brothers
Music
The British pop music industry may be eating itself but if Muse are the pick of what it can offer the world in 2010 then British music is in rude health indeed
Muse
I was smitten by both Gilberts enormous luxuriant moustache and the intelligence and nuance of this highly entertaining play
I totally recommend Babbo to anyone who is looking for really good and traditional Italian food
Always been a fan but never seen them live. I was ecstatic to be part of this epic event. WOW!
London,
John Aizlewood's rating
Reader rating
Raising the roof: Alex Turner, right, and bassist Nick O’Malley sport new hairstyles
Even when they were pretending to be a youth club band who’d accidentally struck gold, Arctic Monkeys always saw the bigger picture. Their seeming disdain for the trappings of pop helped mask a fierce ambition and then, as now, there were none less ramshackle and none more tightly rehearsed.
Last night’s warm-up for this weekend’s festival appearances at Reading and Leeds will be remembered as the moment their presentation matched their status.
Singer Alex Turner still mumbles between songs, which included a heroic tilt at Nick Cave’s Red Right Hand, but where once they performed in near-murk, now their expertly administered lighting would have been visible from outer space had they literally rather than metaphorically raised Brixton’s Academy’s roof.
More startling still, Turner, guitarist Jamie Cook and bassist Nick O’Malley sported the sort of lustrous, just-shampooed manes that suggested Hollywood salon rather than Sheffield barber. Conventions once mostly spurned, such as an encore, were delivered with good grace and Turner, hitherto a study in statuesque non-expression, ditched his guitar on Potion Approaching to play his frontman role with more aplomb than he’d previously dared to show.
All things considered, his Jagger-esque slouch was no surprise, although the classic rock star ending after the closing 505, where Turner walked off and the band followed one-by-one as the song faded, certainly was. At this rate they’ll be getting some choreography next time around.
Naturally, the older material was joyously received as if delivered on tablets of stone from Mount Sinai. There were no Fake Tales Of San Francisco or When The Sun Goes Down, but I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor remains a supremely exhilarating injection of pop-punk adrenaline and a frenetic The View From The Afternoon showed that Matt Helders is unquestionably the finest, hardest-hitting drummer of his generation.
Yet, their new album, Humbug, heralds a slower Arctic Monkeys and if the terrific Crying Lightning and Dangerous Animals were greeted as old friends, Cornerstone struggled and I’m far from sure that for all last night’s goodwill, all their audience will mature with them. Still, those who do make the journey will be royally rewarded.
Earlier, Them Crooked Vultures, the supergroup featuring Led Zeppelin’s John-Paul Jones, Foo Fighter Dave Grohl and Queen Of The Stone Age (and Arctic Monkeys producer) Josh Homme, made their British debut. Thrilling, occasionally indulgent and ear-testingly loud, they sizzled: I can’t wait to see them again.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
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