Alex Turner drops Arctic Monkeys Reading and Leeds setlist hint
"We are shuffling the deck," says the frontman
By Joe Goggins
Alex Turner has given a teaser of what to expect from this weekend’s Arctic Monkeys headline slots at Reading and Leeds.
The Sheffield outfit’s frontman has suggested that rare outings might be handed to tracks that wouldn’t normally make the setlist; recent festival shows on the continent have been dominated by material from 2013’s AM, but have also seen the return of Humbug deep cut ‘Potion Approaching’ for the first time in over a decade and the debuting of a brand new track, which you can see fan-shot footage of below.
Now, ahead of their first UK shows since they took the divisive Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino on the road in the autumn of 2018, the group are potentially planning something special. Asked in a new interview with the Big Issue what fans can look forward to at the dual festivals, Turner said: “I’m still definitely very much working it out. It’s exciting to perform again, but we are still shuffling the deck on the setlist.”
He went on to elaborate on the intricacies of putting together a headline set. “It’s quite mysterious to me right now, at this moment in time, the setlist and what the order of that will be. This time has passed over the last few years and certain things don’t feel the way you expected them to any more.”
“There are certain things that represented certain moments in the past that now feel like something else, so they should be somewhere else,” he concluded.
Yesterday (August 24), Arctic Monkeys announced details of their seventh studio album, The Car. Due for release on October 21, it sees the band come “back to earth”, according to Turner, after the spacey, lounge-inflected Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino. You can see the full track listing below.
The band join Dave and The 1975 in headlining Reading and Leeds this weekend, topping the bill at the former on Saturday (August 27) and doing likewise at the latter on Sunday (August 28).
Arctic Monkeys – The Car:
‘There’d Better Be a Mirrorball’
‘I Ain’t Quite Where I Think I Am’
‘Sculptures of Anything Goes’
‘Jet Skis on the Moat’
‘Body Paint’
‘The Car’
‘Big Ideas’
‘Hello You’
‘Mr. Schwartz’
‘Perfect Sense’