Feeling more like a “we’re sorry we’re a hot project” at the moment for the hundreds of thousands devoid of tickets for their latest tour, Arctic Monkeys’ free livestream is a bittersweet pill to swallow. Taking to Kings Theatre with a few thousand people watching from home is an experience that calls back to those of Supergrass and Frank Turner, striking away in lockdown just two years ago. The Car is tailor-made for intimate performances, something Arctic Monkeys cannot quite do anymore given the scope their presence now has. Still, there isn’t anything more intimate than a band infiltrating your home with a bit of live music that has production and design soundly controlled by those focusing in on the band as they take on New York.
Riddled with synth, opening track There’d Better Be a Mirrorball doesn’t quite hit the album-level highs, but it is hard to deny how impressive Turner is as a live performer. Someone that can replicate and improve upon his studio vocals as the band tries to keep up. One huge Mirrorball later and it’s straight into Crying Lightning. Redefining the relatively tame Humbug era comes, as expected, with a lyrical focus. There is a colloquial charm to this second track that pairs nicely with the wistful opener. Matt Helders takes control of the track toward the end, the drumbeat acting as a march toward one last punchy chorus. For those not lucky enough to get themselves to Leeds or Reading, this is a good indicator of how the new tracks will fare in a live environment.
Pretty Visitors is a nice piece but lacks an underlying punch when performed live, again, a problem the album does not have. There is little way of escaping just how flat the track sounds here, despite the consistencies with both lyrical impression and instrumental quality. A brief double bill of Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino and The Ultracheese aren’t worth sticking around for, especially considering the behind-the-scenes brevity of the latter. Bigger fish to fry. Do I Wanna Know? Not really. Still, seeing Turner use the same guitar as Jarvis Cocker did back in 2019 for his Jarv Is… tour is a nice little sighting. It distracts from how ultimately flat this set is. Perhaps that is a problem for the camerawork more than anything, though, as Body Paint strikes through with such clarity and range.
For those hoping for this live set to be a trade-off for not seeing Arctic Monkeys in person, they may be feeling a bit relieved they never managed to nab tickets. Fairly flat, focusing in well on The Car aesthetics but never quite achieving the range of them. A segment, an extract even, of what Arctic Monkeys are capable of. Turner is on fine lyrical form for portions of this, Helders holds the line with quality drumming, but everything else feels tremendously still. Despite the energy and charisma in those lyrics so often trooped out, Turner marks himself as an unusually tame frontman with little of that charm flowing through, not even on Brianstorm or 505, where it matters most of all. Even the insistence of improvisation with From the Ritz to the Rubble sounds bang average at best.
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