Arctic Monkeys and Screaming Females at the Riviera

Chicago, December 6, 2009

The last two songs played over the PA before the Arctic Monkeys took the stage were Black Sabbath‘s “Paranoid” and Love‘s “Seven and Seven Is.” So that’s the kind of show this is going to be, I thought to myself, as the spotlights illuminated the stage and the crowd roared with the applause.

And it was that kind of show. At least for the first half. They front loaded their set with every fast song in their repertoire and the not-quite capacity crowd at the Riviera was going thoroughly and appropriately nuts.

Frontman Alex Turner clearly deserves the credit he gets for his clever songwriting and distinctive voice. But the true star of this band is drummer Matt Helders. He is a monster and being able to watch him beat the shit out of his drums is pure transcendent pleasure. This is why we go out to see live music. His bio on his kick drum head doesn’t lie: dude truly is an agile beast.

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