“I look forward to it in the set”: What is the Arctic Monkeys’ best live song?
I’ve always wanted to curate my own setlist for a band. To design something that ebbs and flows through the peaks and troughs of live show emotions. Building the tension at the start, creating chaos in the middle and maybe even shedding some tears at the end. It’s what all great shows do and what my favourite gig of all time perfected. During their 2014 AM tour, the Arctic Monkeys show had it all.
They designed a robust setlist that stayed largely unchanged throughout the tour and in all honesty, there were very few alterations I would have made to it. ‘Do I Wanna Know?’ remains one of the most enigmatic show openers of all time, particularly when viewed in the context of its follow-up ‘Brianstorm’ while their seminal hit ‘R U Mine?’ booted ‘505’ out of the closing spot without any problems.
As a show closer, it was a slight step change from their previous approach. In ‘A Certain Romance’ and ‘505’ they had their heavy full band moments, but they were wrapped up in an underlying sense of sentimentality that brought the show to a misty-eyed finish. But in ‘R U Mine?’ they championed something more raucous. Yet, it seemed to work and ever since their 2014 tour, has steadfastly remained their go-to option for closing the show.
But why? Well they simply love playing it. The man behind the song’s chaotic drum beat, Matt Helders, simply said, “‘R U Mine? Is a song that I look forward to in the set, every time. For a band that boasts a widely varied discography that has sonically changed with the chapters of their growing pains, there are undoubtedly songs that feel inauthentic to their contemporary selves. ‘A Certain Romance’ was certainly an apt closer for the adolescent crowd of the noughties, but where does it fit in a modern day context?
While we’re over a decade on from the release of ‘R U Mine?’ and the natural process of ageing places it into the realms of pastiche for the band, there’s more of a sonic timelessness to the track that lends itself to repeated plays. Helders continued to explain, “It’s one that, I just won’t ever forget it I don’t think.”
But he added context to the idea of playing dated songs in the set, by saying, “Alex in our band always sort of says, ‘it’s kind of like doing karaoke sometimes.’ But it means you can like forget, about thinking about it too much and you can just like enjoy the performance aspect of it. And I think ‘R U Mine?’ has become that for me. Like I can rely on the fact I remember all the parts, I don’t have to concentrate, I can just enjoy the showing off part of it.”
In ‘R U Mine?’, we are treated to one of Helders’ finest performances. It packages that relentless power he was renowned for in their debut, while showcasing it with a more astute sense of technicality that we’ve grown to expect from him. The band’s love for the iconic tune goes to prove that no matter what you think of their evolution, and how emotionally distant they may feel, in truth, they share the exact same favourites as all of us.
