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Arctic Monkeys - Arctic Monkeys at the Apollo
| Pitchfork |
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"I always find live shows on film kind of boring. Even my favorite ones, I kinda zone out for most of it.... There's just a visceral thing that never translates very well." That's none other than Mr. Arcade Fire, Win Butler, talking to this website about his band's risky recent documentary, Miroir Noir. And he's absolutely right. Like most notable rock films-- from Don't Look Back to Gimme Shelter to recent winner Glastonbury-- Miroir Noir isn't a mere chronicle of a band on a stage playing to people who are singing along. The film features bits of recording-session footage and offbeat montages along with grainy snips of shows; by adding elements of non-show spontaneity, Miroir Noir translates a real live gig's snap that much better. Arctic Monkeys at the Apollo-- which was released in the UK last November and hits the U.S. this week with a bonus live CD-- shows the Sheffield quartet on stage at the Manchester Apollo playing to people who are singing along. The end. You are now permitted to zone out. Well, not just yet, maybe. Apollo at least attempts to be more than just another concert movie. Instead of going with quick cuts and crisp-but-soulless HD video, editor Nick Fenton (Sigur Rós' Heima) favors longer tracking shots and director Richard Ayoade ("The Mighty Boosh") and director of photography Danny Cohen (This Is England) go with Super 16 film to give the piece a more cinematic feel. But there's only so much one can do with lens flares and light trails (there are plenty of both throughout). The relatively artistic filming techniques are worn out within the first 10 minutes of the 76-minute movie. So it's up to the Monkeys themselves to put on the show of their lives-- to make something worth popping in the DVD player for years to come....full text |
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| Uncut |
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Concert films are often horrible things. Why anybody would want to have a big loud exciting experience in a hall full of noise and singing shrunk down like a crisp packet on a radiator to a small speakered, small screened, jump cut-edited DVD is one of the great mysteries of rock. The human attention span, which might be able to cope with a live album, is severely tested by being asked to look at four or five people playing instruments on the same stage for 60 minutes. And frankly, some crappy “inserts” of the group talking about themselves in a dressing room, or meeting Japanese fans, or gurning at the camera, are not going to be that thrilling. All these thoughts and more run through the mind when taking this DVD out of its tiny sleeve. But there is good news for modern man here; this is not bad at all. Directed by The IT Crowd’s Richard Ayoade, who also directed the Arctic Monkeys’ “Florescent Adolescent” video, this film is very much what it says it is; a film of a live concert by The Arctic Monkeys at… well, you can see where they’re going with the title. And that’s both its flaw and its brilliance. With an utter lack of flash, the film – like the band – is almost completely devoid of effects, irrelevant detail or general flash. There’s the odd bit of split screen and that’s it. Even the occasional lulls between songs, those weird bits in gigs when things stop happening for a minute and nobody ever seems to know why, have been left in. And if you’re a fan of drummers drinking lager, you’re in for a real treat at 42 minutes and 20 seconds. But cameras move about enough and the whole things suits and mirrors the band’s own style, which is hard work and talent disguised as effortlessness. It’s more and more effective as the concert goes on, and gives the viewer the feeling that they’re at the gig, rather than locked in the editing suite with a maniac. Asides become high points – one doubts that Mick Jagger has ever told an audience, “I’m in two minds as to taking this jumper off,” – while the band’s Spartan energy is enhanced by Ayoade’s methodology....full text |
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| Contactmusic |
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Arctic Monkeys are now at the stage where it is time to release a live gig. For a band that quite easily sell out stadiums across the country for some reason they decide to do a live DVD at The Apollo. Strange but different which has always been the Arctic Monkeys way. The Last show of the tour and the beauty about this DVD is the lack of editing on it, the rawness of this just adds the Monkeys Sound. Where on other live Videos everything would have been perfect, but on this you see roadies sat on the side of the stage watching the boys in action. Forget all this High Definition crap this is what it is all about. The only editing that has been done is in parts they show three different angles of the stage. With Arctic Monkeys only releasing two albums you would think that the gig would be pretty limited, but the one thing about these guys music is that ninety percent of there tunes could quite easily of been Singles. Naturally there is always the odd B-side thrown in (just for the real hard core fan). On this Night the Apollo are treated to twenty Arctic Monkeys tunes kicking off with three tracks off the then new second album ‘My Favourite Worst Nightmare’ once the first couple of chords are played of ‘Brianstorm’ it is then you know that the Arctic monkeys have arrived. ‘This House Is A Circus’ and ‘Teddy Picker’ are quickly rattled through and any sound issues that Turner and co have had with the sound guys are ironed out....full text |
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