It’s not Glastonbury without rumours of critical no-shows and outlandish guests, but Arctic Monkeys’ situation at the start of the week was genuinely perilous, with singer Alex Turner’s laryngitis a live issue (The band had to cancel Monday's Dublin show, after a triumphant weekend in London reviewed here).
Yet here he is, with a look like Bob Dylan on the Before The Flood tour, and the increasingly crooner-adjacent voice in fine fettle, and Arctic Monkeys are headlining Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage for the third time. The Glastonbury organisers’ sigh of relief is almost audible.
A headline set plucked from the jaws of disaster? “Effective,” is Turner’s curt declaration at one point. Whether a judgment on his band, his own performance or the audience’s response is unclear, as you don’t get much banter from Turner or his Monkeys. While his preening cabaret star mummery – part Vegas Elvis, part Jack Jones – is not for everyone, this is the price you pay in 2023 to enjoy their impressive raft of songs, with vintage crowd-pleasers joined by the sophisticated soundscapes of material from Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino and the latest The Car. For watchers keener to experience their new sonic world than shout hoarsely along to songs from their first two albums, Body Paint is an epic highlight – stark piano ushering in an artful melange of mid-’70s Bowie moves.
Two more days of this? Your majesty, we are here.
Our Friday Glastonbury 2023 reviews: Foo Fighters is here. And our review of Friday at Glastonbury: Sparks, The Hives, Alabaster DePlume and Mozart Estate is here.
Our Saturday Glastonbury 2023 reviews: Lana Del Rey is here. Guns N' Roses is here. The Pretenders is here. Generation Sex is here.
Join us back here tomorrow for all the action from Sunday, including Elton John and much more.
And catch up with our expedition to the wilder corners of Glastonbury on Thursday here.
Alex Turner photo: Anna Barclay