The Frozen Chosen: Arctic Monkeys @ 9:30 Club (March 27, 2006)

Three words: believe the hype. They came, they saw, they conquered. The Arctic Monkeys played the 9:30 Club tonight and they did not disappoint. Top to bottom, they played a tight set, fed off the energy of the sold out crowd and justified just about everything that everyone has to say about them. Forget the performance on Saturday Night Live, these guys can bring the excitement. The band walked on stage to Warren G.'s "Regulators," quickly picked up their tools and went to work.

Frontman Alex Turner came out cloaked in a dark hoodie, but it was gone before their second song, "I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor." Bassist Andy Nicholson was doing his best John Entwhistle on the left side of the stage: only showing signs of life during the end of "Dancing Shoes," a little more than halfway through the set. He seemed to be casting nonchalant, despondent glances at the crowd, almost taunting us, and suggesting he could take anyone of us in a scrap. The excitement certainly didn't come from Nicholson's side of the stage, but Alex and fellow guitarist Jaime Cooke kept things bouncing with their frequent tempo changes, quick licks, and barre chord power progressions.

There was little chit chat directed towards the crowd, a few mutterings before or after songs, and for the most part, the boys from Sheffield were getting down to business. Drummer Matt Helders was rocking an I "Heart" Berlin shirt and a headband while keeping a furious pace on his kit. They closed it out with "Mardy Bum," "Fake Tales Of San Francisco," and the album closer, "A Certain Romance," introduced by Helders and dedicated to the opening act, Spinto Band. They played everything the crowd came to hear and had enough knowledgable fans present to share the vocal duties during the hits.

Whatever people say that they are...they are. They have a lot of promise, a lot of talent, and hopefully, the poise to keep a cool head and stay humble amidst the media storm. Outside the 9:30 Club, two people handed out the single to "I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor" to everyone coming out of the show, continuing the grass roots campaign that has pushed the Monkeys to stardom, and in the process, set new standards for indie record debuts in both the UK and US.