Hear Me Out: ‘The Car 2023′ was Arctic Monkeys’ most significant tour to date
Staggering away from the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury Festival earlier this summer, the narrative among the sweaty mass consisted of people citing childhood dreams come true, older folks applauding continued greatness, people dressed for fashion over function making overly loud remarks comparing the constant evolution of the band to that of Serge Gainsbourg in the hope of being overheard and having their wisdom revered, and, of course, lusty asides objectifying the handsome members of the generational band. As far as Worthy Farm was concerned, Arctic Monkeys had smashed their headline show.
So, imagine the surprise when it became clear that the view from Twitter was decidedly less complimentary. Indeed, if you believe what you read on social media, their whole tour has been their most polarising by far. This places them alone on an odd pinnacle in modern music: they’re a stadium band who are no longer proverbial crowd pleasers.
Most fans lapped this new chapter up, satisfied that they had already read and enjoyed the previous pages. Alas, a few dissenting voices could be heard among the figurative ovation. However, rather than a staggering indictment against social media, it would seem that the disparity between firm fans on the ground and the floaters watching from afar is indicative of some of the teething problems that the band in transition are currently encountering. Being at home with a cuppa with the ability to voice criticism if one dull note in a million is not to your liking is obviously a skewing element, but so is the mishmash halfway house that the band currently finds themselves in.
Fundamentally, the group who yelled “Doooooo the bad thing” and the one that now croons about lunar lounge music are two entirely different entities. But it is patently apparent that the live evolution from one to the other is not yet complete. The Car is a record that certainly doesn’t crave the live stage in the same fashion as ‘A Certain Romance’, and when bangers like ‘Brianstorm’ are nestling alongside ‘Sculptures of Anything Goes’ in the same setlist, this becomes painstakingly obvious.
The decision to remould the older songs a little bit to fit alongside the band’s newer material was made. Or at least that was the view of online commentators. In truth, any tinkering was very minor and barely noticed when we saw them play live countless times this past year. The actual point of difference in the old classics was seemingly borne from the fact that they were cushioned by the more refined tones of The Car that often preceded them: from the lounge to the bar as opposed to the ritz to the rubble, if you will. They were different because we’re dealing with a different Arctic Monkeys.
That’s a good thing because we’re all different, too. On the second night of Glastonbury, Guns N’ Roses kindly offered up a portent of what happens when a band doesn’t change — you have geriatrics prancing around the stage out of breath in snakeskin trousers, desperately trying to defibrillate a musical corpse. The Car tour of 2023 saw the Arctic Monkeys defiantly decide against that route. With each new album, they had always done that, but this was the first time that the live shows also evolved beyond the usual rapid fire of assorted hits that they usually grace us with.
And it worked a treat, right down to the fact that some people didn’t like it as much. You can either please everyone and face a waining musical relevance and cooking half-baked shows that lack sincerity, or you can refuse to play to the gallery and gift those who want to be pleased with a wave of horizon-broadening new brilliance. So, in truth, maybe it wasn’t actually their finest tour, but if anything, that shows promise that their best still lies ahead on a one-way highway to original greatness.
