05.04.2007 Arctic Monkeys/Be Your Own Pet

Back in 2005-ish, i dismissed the Arctic Monkeys as the latest over-rated flash in the pan a la The Vines, Jet, Audioslave, etc... FastForward to 2007 and they're still around, and still have as much hype to them, albeit more mainstream hype than indie hype now. I guess i was wrong, or was I? I wasn't going to go to this show because there was no way I was going to pay a scalper $80, cuz i can't afford it. Fortunately, I was able to find one at face a the week of (thanks quinn!)

Be Your Own Pet sort of reminded me of Juliette and the Licks. Indie rock dance punk-ish instrumentals with a female ball of energy of a lead singer. They had trouble early on with a non-working bass, which resulted in the drummer and guitarist doing a half ass jam. A song later and everything was sorted out and going smoothly until someone told the the singer (apparently only 19 as she was praising our legal age) to "blow me." She spazzed and went on a tirade against the men of Vancouver, ending with "eat my cunt." I seriously thought she was going to end the set there, but i give her credit for pushing the band on to finish up their set with going-through-the-motions-version of 'Bicycle Bicycle You Are My Bicycle.' Hey it's the Commodore crowd, I can't say this doesn't surprise me.

After hearing the Arctic Monkeys play for 70 or so min, i still think they're overrated. They didn't really seem to have a lot of energy, staying fairly stationary while playing and for the most part letting their music move the crowd. Their good songs came out really well live, while their not so good songs kinda bored me. I guess that's what happens when you really not a big fan. You'd be surprised to see how many girls made their way to the dance floor as soon as the band started playing 'I think You'd Look Good on the Dance Floor' late into their set. I hope you ladies didn't buy a ticket just for that.