One thing was certain, there would be a mirrorball. In the Seventies shades, debonair blazer and lush bouffant of a young Sammy Davis Jr, Alex Turner led the Arctic Monkeys – for the last of a trio of Emirates shows – onto a stage recalling a TV cabaret set from the Golden Age of Hollywood or Vegas, all art deco curves in backlit beige. They might have stampeded headlong into the rock rampage of Brianstorm rather than a hip, swinging Mack the Knife but the sentiment was clear. Seventeen years into one of alt-rock’s most uncompromising and unpredictable careers, playing their first UK stadium tour, the Arctic Monkeys are still big. It was indie rock that got small.
By collating tracks from seven albums of slow, sophisticated evolution, the Monkeys managed to stage an entire classic cabaret show in which they played the full variety of acts. At times they were the snarky, manic lust rockers of Brianstorm, Teddy Picker and View from the Afternoon. At others, the languid Sixties lounge band of Four Out of Five and Cornerstone; a majestic modern crooner about trawling Sheffield pubs on the rebound, bellowed out like the Vegas greats.
