The moment we’ve ALL been waiting for. Arctic Monkeys are back, after not playing on home soil since 2018, they treated Reading fans to an exclusive night to remember.

Fronted by Alex Turner, and made up of Jamie Cook, Nick O’Malley and Matt Helders, the band have been around since 2002, with their iconic indie-rock, made distinct by Alex Turner’s smooth, buttery vocals. Across the twenty years, the band have released six studio albums, making for an impressive back catalogue to devise their setlist from. There was an air of anticipation and mystery in the audience as we all speculated what they’d play tonight.

Starting off with a bang, the indie-rock band played ‘Do I Wanna Know?’, which was met by the fans shouting back every single word.  Whilst some of their older, classic hits such as ‘Brianstorm’,  ‘Crying Lightning’, ‘I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor’ and head-bopper ‘Teddy Picker’ set the stage alight and kept the OG fans happy – delighted to have seen such infamous indie anthems in the flesh. An unexpected performance of ‘That’s Where You’re Wrong’, from ‘Suck It And See’ remind us of the greatness of some of their less frequently played tracks.

The band also previewed some new music, which is set to pick up where ‘Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino’ left off. Recently announced, we’ll be able to get our hands on new album ‘The Car’ in October this year, and we can’t wait. Funky new track ‘I Ain’t Quite Where I Think I Am’ won over an eager crowd who’ve been waiting to hear new music for a very long time.

Despite a change in direction musically with their last album, the band’s vigour, high-energy performances have remained a constant through the years. With a huge disco ball donning the word ‘Monkeys’ glittering across the field, encore tracks ‘Arabella’ and ‘R U Mine?’ sealed the deal, ending the set in spectacular style, the only way we expected Arctic Monkeys to.