Music

[Life Is Beautiful 2014]

Life Is Beautiful: The crushing rock seduction of Arctic Monkeys

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English indie rock band Arctic Monkeys perform during the Life is Beautiful music festival in downtown Las Vegas Sunday, Oct. 26, 2014.
Photo: Steve Marcus

Looking like a splice of young Elvis and Eddie Munster, he curled his fingers around the mic like it was alive under his touch. And maybe it was. I was warned that Alex Turner is a sex god (there’s a Tumblr), but I had no idea how hot it would get on the chilly final night of Life Is Beautiful.

The first sound was thudding drums, the heartbeat of angsty march “Do I Wanna Know?” Turner gave the crowd the eye, his voice a steady purr pricked with longing on the verge of going sour. “Simmer down and pucker up/I’m sorry to interrupt. It’s just I’m constantly on the cusp of trying to kiss you.” A girl holding a balloon with a desperate love note scrawled in lipstick looked like her head might explode.

2014 Life is Beautiful: Day 3

A line into “Snap Out of It,” Turner greeted Las Vegas, rolling the city’s name around in his mouth. The song’s playful jangle showed the tightness of the band, and while Turner stayed in the low register bassist Nick O’Malley and drummer Matt Helders took the hook to the rafters in a sweetly mocking falsetto. Matching Jamie Cook’s intensity on guitar, Turner shed the instrument for “Arabella,” an ode to the kind of woman who can rip you apart with a look. The racing, tinny punk of the band’s early sound has become this solid fist of rock, hard-edged and intricate and clever, paced so the ear and the heart don’t end where they started.

In a loaded pause on “Brianstorm,” Helders twisted one stick above his head, slow, then tumbled back to the driving beat. In proper pinstripes, Cook shredded into a high note that howled and got really ugly and then lovely, that contrast echoed in the tender “ooh-oohs” over heavy riffs and drums on “Don’t Sit Down ’Cause I’ve Moved Your Chair.” Up to that point Turner’s hair had stayed in place, but a strand fell down over one eye, and though he pawed it back he got more disheveled as the set had its way with him and the thousands throwing hands up and singing along.

The selection of chestnuts was comprehensive, reaching back to 2006’s Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not for “Dancing Shoes” and “I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor.” A couple songs each were drawn from the ensuing three records, standouts including “Crying Lightning,” “All My Own Stunts” and “Library Pictures,” featuring an interlude that stretched and faded like it was being played underwater. But the bulk of the set came from latest album AM. As Helders kick-drummed into “Knee Socks,” he absently picked up his phone to take a shot of the packed arena. It was funny, and exemplified the band’s ease onstage. At the almost whispered plaint, “She could be my baby; be my baby,” the roaring audience went quiet to lick it up.

Not even The Worst Person At The Festival (seriously, no one wants to see you bouncing in your awful parrot shorts on your drunk boyfriend’s shoulders with a foam glowstick from a nightclub) could ruin the mood, the lovemaking that rolled from animal and frantic to crushing and deep. Turner dedicated “Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High” to “the booty call you made last night.” Just the way he says “booty” ...

When the man can make singing about a vacuum cleaner sultry, you know he’s come into his own. The Arctic Monkeys have as well, playing with swagger and technical chops that could have carried a fest-closing slot. The ride was that good from start to finish. The visual never strayed much from simple color washes and flashes of light for punctuation, close-ups lingering so we could appreciate every snarl and bead of sweat. The cold wind was no match for final scorcher “R U Mine,” which hung and hurtled like a roller coaster, leaving us gasping.

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