Throwback of the week (18th October)

Arctic Monkeys – Mardy Bum @ Glastonbury 2013

We haven’t really looked back at live performances in our throwbacks, but the whole point of them is to look back at the biggest and best tunes and I think an argument can be made for Arctic Monkeys playing ‘Mardy Bum’ at Glastonbury 2013 to be one of the finest Glastonbury moments of all time!

Beautiful, elegant, magnificent, it is easy to run out of superlatives when describing the masterpiece that is Mardy Bum. Now, add an orchesta and 150,000 fans, what do you get? One of the greatest Glastonbury performances of all time.

The famous line of “do you want to hear an old Monkeys tune, one we don’t get out very often” lives rent free in my head every single day. Iconic is the word to perfectly describe this performance. The whole clip on YouTube is 4 minutes and 46 seconds long, but put aside a few hours to watch this as you will be pressing repeat all day long. 

Showing off Alex at his best, with an acoustic guitar he had the whole crowd in the palm of his hand. This is one of those ‘I wish I was there’ moments, and for those who were there is a memory which will last forever.

Stripping back the famous song was a masterstroke and is evidence as to why Arctic Monkeys are one of the biggest bands in the world. Ending off the song with smugness, quoting the end of ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’ – “at least not today” – was the arrogance and cockiness we’ve come to expect from the Monkeys frontman, yet it was absolutely fantastic.

If you haven’t seen this yet, I don’t know how you haven’t, I urge you to click the clip below, but prepare to fall in love!