Monkeys make no room for Maximo

You know it was a good gig when it’s not the headline band that is ringing through your ear the next morning. When the gig is the NME Awards Tour you expect no less.
Mystery Jets give an energetic performance that seizes the crowd. The Boy Who Ran Away and You Can’t Fool Me Dennis get the crowd buzzing, and although 7pm is early for a gig to start the crowd are already up for it.
Although at first it is clear that a large proportion of the crowd are unfamiliar with We Are Scientists, by the end of their set the crowd are going mad them. Singles Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt and The Method go down particularly well.
Coming on to Warren G’s Regulate, the crowd are bumping and grinding in excitement for Arctic Monkeys. No ties, no pretentiousness, in appearance the Arctic Monkeys could just be four cheeky lads who decided to mess around on stage. They are as enthusiastic about playing, as the crowd are about hearing them and giggly lead singer Alex Turner chats to the crowd as if they are old friends.
A View From the Afternoon gets the crowd bouncing along in no time at all and swinging into current single When The Sun Goes Down, the Arctic Monkeys indicate just why they are the band of the moment. Finishing the set with comic A Certain Romance, everyone is left full of love for the Monkeys.
With Rubik’s cube style lights, Maximo Park visually capture the room but their colour co-ordinated clothes scream “last year”. Although Grafitti goes down well, the rest of the set passes most of the crowd by with little effect.
The fact that the Arctic Monkey’s just sold their debut album faster than any other band certainly added to the hype of this gig. It also detracted attention from the headliner. Although Maximo Park proved themselves a last year band, the other three are most definitely bands of 2006. NME did it again. Bring on the 2007 Tour.

Produced for Big Issue Cymru