Photo by Kara Kokinos
The last time I was at the TD Garden I was hungover, dripping sweat, and about to graduate from university. Flashforward to July 27th and I was basically in the same situation, subbing out a hangover for a horrible stomach bug. Regardless, you soldier on in the line of duty, whether it’s obligations toward your family or your teenage self who designed artsy lyric edits for Suck It And See.
As soon as the Arctic Monkeys the stage there’s anticipation buzzing, and it only builds with the opening notes of ‘Four Out of Five.’ It’s not the same clarity that’s heard on the album, all of the sonic layers melt into each other more in the live setting and it’s more forward, met with a consuming eagerness from the crowd. It feels heady and urgent and you know exactly what you’re in store for.
One thing does remain the same; Alex Turner can charm the pants off you and knows it, breathy as he baits the crowd with what he has in store for the night. It’s a mastery at this point, haircut and all, he’s got you hook, line, and sinker. It’s better not to resist. With the heavy inspiration of lounge music on the latest release, Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino, there’s an expectation of late night cocktails and heartbreaking crooners, filled with false promises. It’s echoed in their entire live show, with their stage even resembling the album cover. You can’t say they didn’t warn you.
Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino is the destination you find yourself in once coming off the winding highways of AM. It’s all done with freshly polished shoes and a smirk, as well as some of Turner’s most poetic lyrics to date, but there’s no going back to the youthful sound of albums past. The festival circuit and teenage lust that followed AM has no place at Tranquility Base; it’s a mature album and its artistic vision is executed in a hazy cloud of smoke. We’ve seen Arctic Monkeys develop out of brash and crass youth while remaining even-handed songwriters and excellent musicians, but it leaves the current live show stranded in a place without time or context. Seeing the band revisit old classics delights every part of me with the giddy tickling of nostalgia but it’s a clear contrast from the rest of their set, reinforced by the lack of teenage screams to accompany them. Turner isn’t missing them though, he relishes every new lyric dropping off the tip of his tongue, teasing every last drop of innuendo out of the new material. Watching him live feels like watching a beast devouring words as nourishment, spitting out consonants like bones picked clean. It’s these moments that he soaks in and draws out, pulling out gems hidden within nonsensical lyricism at home with Carol. The refrain of ‘She Looks Like Fun’ crashes in a manner that is commanding, a march to damnation, with all of the drama of AM’s back-catalog. It battles with longstanding track ‘Don’t Sit Down ‘Cause I’ve Moved Your Chair’ for the crown jewel of the set, each a celebration of impulse and self-destruction.
The songs off of Tranquility Base remain deliberately entrenched in the present and reflect a internalization of the collective and individual lessons learnt in the five years of breathing room since their last release. We are all changed and there is no turning back. It’s not a thing to regret, and beautiful in its sentiment, but we know it’s different and cannot pretend otherwise. This is not a place of escape, it’s made for reflection. The songs manage to strike while reigning in, bracing for impact. It’s a collective anxiety that sends you reeling off into the night, carrying the momentum of self-awareness and the itching need for escape from that knowledge.