Arctic Monkeys kicked off their UK stadium tour in Bristol last night (May 29) – see the full setlist and fan-caught footage below.
The concert marked the first of 15 live dates the band have lined up on this UK and Ireland tour, which makes stops in Sheffield, Manchester, London and more.
Kicking off at the Ashton Gate Stadium in Bristol, the band played a total of 21 songs, including a number of tracks from their latest LP ‘The Car’, which was released last October.
Alex Turner and co. opened the concert with a live rendition of ‘Mardy Bum’. Taken from their 2006 debut ‘Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not’, the show marked the first time the original album version of the track has been performed live since 2007. It was last performed live by the band in 2013.
Another rarity also arrived midway through the setlist when the band pulled out their first performance of ‘My Propeller’ in almost 10 years. Other highlights from the show included classic numbers ‘Teddy Picker, ‘The View From The Afternoon’ and ‘Fluorescent Adolescent’ as well as a cover of John Cooper Clarke’s ‘I Wanna Be Yours’.
Arctic Monkeys also played some of their most popular songs including ‘505’, ‘Arabella’ and ‘Do I Wanna Know’ and closed the show with a three-song encore of ‘Sculptures Of Anything Goes’, ‘I Bet You’ Look Good On The Dancefloor’ and ‘RU Mine?’. See the full setlist and footage from the moment below.
Arctic Monkeys played:
1. ‘Mardy Bum’ (First time album version played since 2007)
2. ‘Don’t sit down because I’ve moved your chair’
3. ‘Brianstorm’
4. ‘Snap out of it’
5. ‘Crying Lightning’
6. ‘Teddy bear selector’
7. ‘The view from the afternoon’
8. ‘Four out of five’
9. ‘Why did you only call me when you’re high?’
10. ‘Arabella’ (With ‘Pretty Visitors’ instrumental interlude)
11. ‘My Propeller’ (First time live since 2014)
12. ‘Fluorescent Teenager’
13. ‘Suck It and See’
14. ‘Do I want to know?’
15. ‘There better be a mirror ball’
16. ‘I Wanna Be Yours’ (John Cooper Clarke Cover)
17. ‘505’
18. ‘Body Paint’
19. ‘Sculptures of Anything Goes’
20. ‘I bet you look good on the dance floor’
21. ‘RU Mine?’
arctic monkeys perform mardy bum again for the first time in 16 years! pic.twitter.com/QDR6ZMHyeP
— c ⏣ ⚭ (@tlspmusic) 30 May 2023
Unreal concert 😍#arctic monkeys pic.twitter.com/rog3O532NU
— Marc Symons (@marcsymons) 29 May 2023
arctic monkeys finale! pic.twitter.com/C1e8dHRqyx
— c ⏣ ⚭ (@tlspmusic) 30 May 2023
I Wanna Be Yours from today’s Arctic Monkeys performance! literally insane incl pic.twitter.com/ygUYjPGlIy
— Llenn ⭑ (@bobertothedi1f) 29 May 2023
I BET YOU LOOK GOOD ON THE DANCE FLOORpic.twitter.com/OpzeO2I3k5
— arctic monkeys archive (@arcticmolnkeys) 29 May 2023
arctic monkeys that perform sculptures of anything! pic.twitter.com/OmjvKrgW1m
— c ⏣ ⚭ (@tlspmusic) 29 May 2023
I bet you look good on the dance floor
Arctic Monkeys at Ashton Gate Bristol.
Good job there is no roof or it would have gone pic.twitter.com/ef6qIA8OTU— Tristan Cork Post (@TristanCorkPost) 29 May 2023
Arctic Monkeys are set to stop at Coventry’s Building Society Arena tomorrow night (May 31) before playing two back-to-back shows at Manchester’s Old Trafford Stadium on June 2 and 3.
From there the band will head to Middlesbrough and Norwich, play two shows in their hometown of Sheffield and finally move through Swansea, Southampton and London. For the latter, they play three shows at the Emirates Stadium on June 16, 17 and 18 before moving on to Ireland. Find remaining tickets here.
The band released their latest LP, ‘The Car’, to critical acclaim last year – the follow-up to their 2018 LP, ‘Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino’. In a five-star review, NME praised the band for the precise songwriting in the album, as well as their innovative ideas.
“The band ‘pick up where they left off’ at 2018’s ‘Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino’,” it read. “Their masterful – and divisive – collection that traded razor-sharp riffs and stadium-sized choruses for loungey space-pop, blurring characters and a shady lounge-lizard persona for frontman Alex Turner.”
The band kicked off the European leg of their tour in Austria last month (April 24), where they also surprised fans with the first live performances of both ‘Suck It And See’ and ‘Fluorescent Adolescent’ since 2014.