Antarctic Monkeys
Event Info
The UK’s #1 Tribute to the Arctic Monkeys, the Antarctic Monkeys First Time Ever in Australia!
Firmly established on the tribute scene, the Antarctic Monkeys live show has the power, passion and the creative edge to whip audiences into a frenzy when delivering the powerful tunes of the Arctic Monkeys as the way they should be.
Rarely is there a tribute band that can rival the original yet these 4 lads mimic Turner, Cook, O’Mally and Helders style perfectly.
See for yourself what all the buzz is about as the Antarctic Monkeys play all the Arctic Monkeys Hits!
Setlist –
505
A Certain Romance
Arabella
Brainstorm
Cornerstone
Cryin’ Lightnin’
Dancing Shoes
Do I Wanna Know?
Do Me A Favour
Don’t Sit Down ‘Cause I’ve Moved Your Chair
Fake Tales Of San Francisco
Flourescent Adolescent
From The Ritz To The Rubble
I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor
I Wanna Be Yours
Leave Before The Lights Come On
Mardy Bum
Pretty Visitors
R U Mine?
Snap Out Of It
Still Take You Home
Teddy Picker
Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High?
When The Sun Goes Down
Tickets only $50
Arctic Monkeys Bio
Arctic Monkeys are an indie rock band formed in Sheffield in 2002. One of the first bands to rise to stardom on social media, Arctic Monkeys could be Britain’s most iconic band of the early 21st century. The band consists of lead vocalist, Alex Turner, drummer Matt Helders, guitarist Jamie Cook and bassist Nick O’Malley.
Arctic Monkeys was formed by teenage friends Alex Turner, Matt Helders and Andy Nicholson (Nicholson left the band after their debut album). Turner and Helders were neighbours and met Nicholson at Stocksbridge High School. Turner’s father was a music teacher and had grown up in a musical household. The band name came from Matt Helders’ father who played in a band in the 70s. Turner commented in a 2005 interview that “… he passed it down from generation to generation, like a recipe.” Arctic Monkeys played their first show in 2003. The group began recording demos at 2fly studios in Sheffield. These songs were burned onto CDs and given away for free at shows. These became widely bootlegged under the name Beneath the Boardwalk, which was a title a fan gave the collection. As fans began circulating these demos on discs and online, Arctic Monkeys began to grow in popularity eventually leading to radio play on the BBC and coverage in the British tabloid press. Fans created a MySpace site for the demos which became immensely popular. The band released the EP, Five Minutes with Arctic Monkeys, on their own label, “Bang Bang” – the EP contained favourite songs such as “Fake Tales of San Francisco” and “From the Ritz to the Rubble”. The band performed at the Carling Stage of the Reading and Leeds Festivals, a stage for unsigned bands.
With a palpable buzz around Arctic Monkeys, the band would go on to turn down offers from major record labels to sign with Domino Records in 2005. The band liked the DIY attitude of Domino owner Laurence Bell, who ran the record label from his flat and only signed bands he liked. Domino’s roster included Franz Fedinand, an influence on the Monkeys’ sound. Arctic Monkeys’ debut single, “I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor” was recorded at Chapel Studios in Lincolnshire and released in October 2005 immediately topped the UK Singles Chart. Their second single, “When the Sun Goes Down” (originally titled “Scummy”) was released in January 2006 and shot to number 1 on the U.K. Singles Chart. The band’s popularity was largely driven by word of mouth and social media with little in the way of traditional advertising. This signalled a revolution in how bands and brands would go about marketing themselves.
Arctic Monkeys recorded their debut album, Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not, at Chapel Studios in Lincolnshire between June and September 2005. Produced by Jim Abbiss, the record was released in January 2006 and would become the fastest selling debut rock album in U.K. chart history, ousting Oasis’ Definitely Maybe (the record was broken a year later by Leona Lewis). The album sold more in its first day than the rest of the Top 20 albums combined. The album was released a month later in North America where it reached 24 on the Billboard album charts. It was the second fastest selling debut indie rock album in the US. The album was eventually certified gold in the U.S in 2017 for sales of more than 500 000 units. That year the band equalled The Strokes and Oasis at the NME awards winning three fan-voted awards for Best British Band, Best New Band and Best Track. NME proclaimed Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not as one of the greatest debut albums of all time. The band would go on to win several awards at this time including the 2006 Mercury Prize and Best British Breakthrough Act at the BRIT Awards.
Arctic Monkeys followed up their debut album with a five track EP, Who the F**k Are Arctic Monkeys. Due to the EP’s short duration it was ineligible for charting as a single or album. The album title also reduced the group’s radio airplay, but as their following was mostly online, the group didn’t care about old broadcast formats. The EP was also criticised for being released just three months after their debut album, seeing it as a quick money grab. The band responded to these critics saying they released new music not to make money but to avoid the boredom of spending extended lengths of time performing old material.
Before the band’s first major North American tour, Andy Nicholson began to feel fatigued by the band’s prolific work ethic and rise to stardom and pulled out of the tour. Nick O’Malley was brought in, initially as a temporary replacement. When Nicholson officially left the band after the US tour, O’Malley stayed with the group becoming a permanent member and performs with Arctic Monkeys to this day. Arctic Monkey’s first release after Nicholson’s departure was the single “Leave Before the Lights Come On” – the single peaked at number 4, being the band’s first single not to reach number 1.
Arctic Monkey’s second album, Favourite Worst Nightmare was released in April 2007. The album was faster and louder than its’ predecessor. All 12 of the album’s tracks charted in the Top 200 of the UK Singles Chart and the album promptly hit number 1 on the UK charts, selling 227 993 copies in its first week. In the USA, Favourite Worst Nightmare debuted at number seven.
Arctic Monkeys headlined Glastonbury Festival on 22 June 2007. The band performed with Dizzee Rascal and Simian Mobile Disco on a cover of the Shirley Bassey classic “Diamonds Are Forever.” On July 28th and 29th 2007 the band performed their biggest headline shows with back to back sell outs at the 55000 capacity Old Trafford Cricket Ground in Manchester. The shows featured support acts Supergrass, The Coral, Amy Winehouse and a Japanese Beatles tribute act, The Parrots. NME never ones to miss an opportunity for hyperbole heralded the performances as ‘the gigs of a generation’ and compared them to Oasis’ shows at Knebworth House in 1996. The last show of their 2007 tour was at Manchester Apollo on 17 December, which was recorded and filmed for the live album and video release, At the Apollo. The concert was shot on 35mm film and was released to cinemas in 2008.
In November 2008 the band returned to the recording studio, this time recording in the United States. The band’s third album was comprised of recording sessions recorded in Los Angeles and the Mojave Desert produced by Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age alongside recordings done in New York City produced by James Ford, who had produced Alex Turner’s side project, the Last Shadow Puppets. The resulting album, Humbug, featured influences from stoner rock, desert rock and surf rock. The first single from the album was “Crying Lightning” and was released on 6th July 2009. The single debuted at number 12 on the U.K. singles Chart. Humbug was released in August 2009 and like both the band’s previous albums the album went straight to the top of the charts in the U.K. The album was bolstered by further singles, “Cornerstone” and “My Propeller”. The Humbug Tour would see the band headline the 2009 Reading and Leeds Festival.
When it came time to record Arctic Monkeys’ fourth record, they returned to James Ford in 2010. The songs were written by Alex Turner on an acoustic guitar and marked a shift from the darker and heavier sounds on their previous albums veering towards indie rock, guitar pop and psychedelic pop. The band released the track “Brick by Brick” on their website as a teaser for the upcoming record. The first single from the album, “Don’t Sit Down ‘Cause I’ve Moved Your Chair” reached No. 28 on the U.K. Singles Chart. The album was finally released on June 6 2011. The album was titled Suck it and See and again reached number 1 on the album charts despite the provocative title. This made Arctic Monkeys the second band in history to debut four albums in a row at number 1. The title of the album referred to the British idiom for “give it a try” while in the United States it was misconstrued as being a reference to fellatio leading to the album cover art being censored by US retailers. NME called the album cover, a blank cream monochrome square with the title of the album in a nondescript font, one of the worst in history. The album won Mojo’s award for the Best Album of 2011. They later ranked it as number 39 on their Top 50 Albums of 2011 list.
The Suck it And See tour saw Arctic Monkeys headline several festivals. Benicàssim Festival in Spain, Oxegen 2011 in Ireland, Super Bock Super Rock in Portugal, Rock Werchter in Belgium and V Festival in the U.K. The band also performed at Lollapalooza 2011 in Chicago. Around this time Alex Turner also wrote music for the Richard Ayoade film, Submarine. The soundtrack for the album doubled as Turner’s first solo album.
In February 2012 Arctic Monkeys released the song “R U Mine?” on their YouTube channel. This was followed by the band performing at the opening ceremony for the London Summer Olympics performing “I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor” and the Beatles’ “Come Together”. Despite this activity, Arctic Monkeys’ next full length release, AM, would not arrive until September 2013. The first taste of AM came on May 2013 at Ventura Theatre in California where they debuted “Do I Wanna Know?” – on 18 June the band released the video for “Do I Wanna Know?” and the single, sold via iTunes, reached number 11 on the U.K. Singles Chart. Arctic Monkeys headlined the Pyramid stage at Glastonbury 2013, this was followed by the release of the single “Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High?”with the B-side “Stop The World I Wanna Get Off With You”. The single debuted at 8 on the chart making it the band’s first U.K. Top 10 single since 2007.
AM was eventually released on the 9th September and was both a critical and commercial success. The album contained guest appearances from Josh Homme, Elvis Costello’s drummer Pete Thomas and Bill Ryder-Jones of the Coral. NME proclaimed that AM was “absolutely and unarguably the greatest record of their career”. The album again debuted at number 1 making Arctic Monkeys the first independent label band with five consecutive number 1 albums in the United Kingdom. AM reached number six on the Billboard 200 in the United States becoming the band’s highest charting album in America. It also earned the band their third Mercury Prize nomination and won British Album of the Year at the BRIT Awards.
Arctic Monkeys performed some their biggest shows on the AM tour. Headlining Reading and Leeds Festival and headlining two nights at Finsbury Park with support acts Tame Impala, Miles Kane and Royal Blood. Over two Finsbury Park performances the band played to 80 000 people. Following the end of the AM tour, Arctic Monkeys announced they would take a hiatus while the band members pursued other projects.
Arctic Monkeys reconvened in 2017 to work on the album, Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino. Named after the site of the 1969 Apollo 11 Moon landing, the album was a departure in sound for the band being softer in tone and wider in scope. The album has elements of psychedelic pop, lounge pop, glam rock and jazz. Alex Turner wrote the album entirely on a Steinway Vertegrand piano. Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino was again produced by James Ford. The album features several guests including Tom Rowley, Loren Humphrey, James Righton, Zach Dawes, Tyler Parkford and Cam Avery. Despite the change in style the album was still a huge hit. It was the band’s sixth consecutive number 1 debut and the fastest selling vinyl record in 25 years in the U.K. The band was again nominated for a Mercury Prize and was also nominated for Best Alternative Music Album at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards. The single “Four Out of Five” was nominated for Best Rock Performance. A live album, Live at the Royal Albert Hall, was recorded during during the Tranquility Base tour. The album was released in 2020 with all proceeds going to benefit the War Child U.K. charity organization.
Arctic Monkeys released their seventh full length record, The Car, on 21 October 2022. Building upon the direction of the band’s previous album and expanding it with influences from soul music, electronic music, bossa nova and film soundtracks. The album was recorded at Butley Priory, an old monastery in Suffolk. The band, along with long-time producer, James Ford transformed the space into a recording studio while also living in the building during recording. The Car peaked at No. 2 on the U.K. Albums Chart breaking the band’s streak of debut number 1 albums. The band were again nominated for a Mercury Prize with the band now having the most nominations of any artist, a feat jointly held with Radiohead. The Car was nominated for “Best Alternative Music Album” at the Grammy Awards. The songs “Body Paint” and “Sculptures of Anything Goes” were also nominated in the Best Alternative Music Performance and Best Rock Performance categories respectively.
Arctic Monkeys’ commercial success and critical acclaim have cemented them as one of the most important bands of the 21st century. Laurence Bell, co-founder of the band’s label Domino Records, said “Every 13-year-old loves them. But so do grandads who were into Led Zeppelin…” With their loyal global fanbase, Arctic Monkeys inspired a new generation of musicians. Their influence extends beyond music, impacting fashion and pop culture, and their innovative use of the internet for early promotion has set a precedent for modern music marketing.
Reviews
“Almost better than the real thing!”
“Class”
“Brilliant”
“Singer has all the moves and voice of Alex Turner”
“10/10 would book more tickets in a heart beat”