PAUL DONOVAN is chilled by the contemporary resonance of Harper Lee’s coming of age tale amidst racism and white supremacy in this excellent production
Arctic Monkeys
Finsbury Park, London N4
4 Stars
OVER 45,000 turned out at Finsbury Park to watch the Arctic Monkeys and left en masse with their glowing adulation unimpaired.
But for me there was something lacking even though the Sheffield lads are on top form and Alex Turner’s strange accent and incessant posturing adds to his charm.
Turner (pictured) and co are nothing short of fantastic, with renditions of 505, Crying Lightning and R U Mine standing out.
But what the Monkeys seem to lack is the aggression and excitement only youth and hunger to make it to the top can provide.
That’s not the case with Miles Kane, second on the bill, whose lack of success to date has clearly kept him pulling at the leash.
Kane, 28, has certainly been around the block a bit in The Rascals and The Last Shadow Puppets and knows exactly how to whip up a frenzy.
He oozes charisma like Marc Bolan and plays guitar like it’s a weapon a la Wilko Johnson, underpinned with the hostility of a young Pete Townshend.
And he shows that unless it renews itself, rock’n’roll will stagnate and die — something Turner himself is clearly not keen on, going by his recent Brit Awards speech.
New releases from Kneecap, Sam Blasucci, and Juni Habel
New releases by Porridge Radio, The Cribs, and Bjorn Meyer
WILL STONE applauds a comprehensive survey of love in its many moods and musical forms
MARTIN HALL passes time in the sanguine company of a traditional conservative, recalling their disastrous governments


