Monkey mayhem at Leeds

United Kingdom | by Andrew Future | 28 August 2005

Arctic Monkeys burn up Leeds

With a mini-heatwave scorching Leeds, the afternoon saw Arctic Monkeys become the undisputed New Band of the Weekend with a riotous performance on the Carling Stage.

With hordes of people streaming out of the tent, the latest signings to Domino - Franz's record label - did themselves proud. Flamboyant seedy nu-wave anthems, sounding like The Libertines playing The Coral.

Proving to be one those truly magical festival sets, singer Alex Turner looked almost overwhelmed as chants of "Monkeys! Monkeys!" rained down throughout. Closing with 'A Certain Romance' he said: "We'd love to stay and play all day, but for some reason they put other bands on the bill."

Despite most of their songs only being available over the internet, it proved to be the kind of sing-along set reserved for headline acts. Rest assured, the Monkeys will be back next year at the top of the bill.

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