My Brother-In-Law And The Arctic Monkeys
Arctic Monkeys
Bother-In-Law's Favorite Band
I was asked at the last moment to take my 16 year old brother-in-law to a concert last evening. I was a little nervous, I have never done anything alone with Christopher in the nine years I have known the family. I wasn't all that excited to see the band either, with album names such as Who The F*** are The Arctic Monkeys? and Suck It and See, I was envisioning having to endure a concert like the Insane Clown Posse and Body Count. The conversation was good, it was actually the most I have ever talked to Christopher in a single encounter. The cover band, name unknown was okay, the music they played was heavy metalish, with a hint of 50's rhythm, but I could not understand a word the singer said, the music overpowered the lyrics. When the Arctic Monkeys came on, the mixing was adjusted and I could actually understand the lyrics to the songs. The drummer was phenomenal, he reminded me of Lars Ulrich of Metallica, lots of intricate rhythms, and tremendous footwork with the base drum. The lead singer reminded of a mix of Michael Stipes, Brian Stetzer, and Billie Joe Armstrong all rolled into one. He wears a white t-shirt, a leather jacket and the big bangs curl from the 50's duck tail hairstyle. Contrary to song and album titles, the music was fairly "clean", no swears or crude lyrics in the songs they played. They put on a good show, they even did a three song encore after they left the stage. When they returned, the crowd went nuts. There were plenty of teenagers and a few intoxicated adults crowd surfing in the area directly in front of the stage. No mosh pit, every one was actually pretty mellow. As usual, there was a stoner smoking pot inside the building, he wandered the lower floor, smoking his weed, until people noticed the smoke. His smoke was difficult to see because both bands used heavy fog during their concert. Overall, I had a good time, Christopher had a good time and the Arctic Monkeys were surprisingly talented.