The Vaccines got the night off to a bright start, right on time and with a chipper attitude. Alas, their debut album isn't out yet in the States, and they suffered a bit from the fate that befalls a lot of opening acts in huge venues: all the energy that they spent thrashing about on the stage, giving it their all and singing their hearts out wasn't reciprocated by the crowd. The crowd gave them a synchronized clap once and almost (almost) got moving during set highlight "If You Wanna", but considering how wild they proved themselves to be during the Arctic Monkeys set, it wasn't much. For their part, the Vaccines sounded tight and powerful on the big house PA, proving that sound-wise, they can hold a big stage. All their songs came from their concise and excellent debut album, which should be out in the US as of May 31st.
When Arctic Monkeys took the stage, chaos reigned. The ground floor crowd came ready to dance, thrash, flail, shout back lyrics and generally have a good time. The band gave them plenty of ammunition, front loading the set with well known uptempo numbers. Not content to pick "View from the Afternoon" or "Brianstorm" as the opener, they played them back to back, without a break, after actually opening the night with the brief and also high energy new song "Library Pictures." Boston fans got tastes of six new songs in all, including the aforementioned opener, the main set closing "Hellcat Spangled Shalala" and the two previously released preview tracks, "Brick by Brick" and "Don't Sit Down 'Cause I've Moved Your Chair." The other two new songs, "Black Treacle" and "She's Thunderstorms" were undoubtedly set highlights. Taking the cryptic imagery and West-Coast rock mentality of Humbug in an ear-pleasing pop direction, the songs are fine harbingers of June 7th's Suck it and See. The songs have a confidence, mastery and eloquence that marks them as the work of real pros who have learned how to please their audience while growing all the while. To the crowd's extreme credit, they weren't hung up on the olden days, not mad at the band for not hewing to its roots. Sure, the cheers for "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor" were immense, but so was the reception for "Potion Approaching." Arctic Monkeys have proven beyond a doubt that an audience will follow you into new territory... as long as the new territory is still good.
SONG OF THE POST:
Black Treacle by Arctic Monkeys
Not officially out yet. Suck it and see if you like it.
SETLISTS:
The Vaccines
Under Your Thumb
Blow it Up
Wreckin' Bar (Ra Ra Ra)
Wolfpack
If You Wanna
Wetsuit
A Lack of Understanding
All In White
Post Break-Up Sex
Norgaard
Arctic Monkeys
Library Pictures
The View from the Afternoon
Brianstorm
This House is A Circus
Still Take You Home
Don't Sit Down 'Cause I've Moved Your Chair
Teddy Picker
Crying Lightning
Black Treacle
I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor
Potion Approaching
Brick By Brick
If You Were There, Beware
Do Me A Favour
Cornerstone
The Hellcat Spangled Shalala
Encore
Pretty Visitors
She's Thunderstorms
Fluorescent Adolescent
(Suck it and See songs in italics)
