Arctic Monkeys Team Up With Them Crooked Vultures for Brixton Triumph

The Arctic Monkeys' return to a UK stage was always going to be an event. Yet Wednesday night's Brixton Academy show, announced just days ago as a Reading/Leeds festival warm up, took on a whole new level of fever pitch.

Most of the fans lucky enough to win tickets through a lottery were already packed inside the venue at the unusually early time of 7:30pm. The reason? Rumours the gig would see the UK debut of Them Crooked Vultures, a super group of hard rock heavyweights Josh Homme, Dave Grohl (back behind a drum kit) and Led Zeppelin legend John Paul Jones.

Striding out of the shadows the towering trio, accompanied by Homme's long time Queens of the Stone Age cohort Alain Johannes were greeted with the kind of reception usually reserved for all-conquering headline heroes. They then blasted their way through an eardrum-perforating 50 minutes of mighty, monolithic, gear-shifting trance rock.

Not a million miles away from Homme's QOTSA day job, the Vultures, unlike other members of the supergroup species, thankfully sounded like a cohesive unit rather than an overblown battle of over-sized egos. Homme encouraged the audience to "do whatever you like in here," and was flashed a wry smile from security. "F**k this guy," he shot back, "he works for me, I could fire his ass."

The fact that they even dared follow such legendary figures is testament to the confidence currently coursing through the Arctic Monkeys' veins. The new-look, long-haired 'Monkeys have been road testing their new material overseas for a few months now. During that time they've swollen to an onstage five-piece with the addition of an extra guitarist/keyboardist, and now sound big and bold enough to take on festival headline sets.

As the brooding, lascivious opener 'My Propeller' took flight, utter pandemonium ensued. One of the biggest, and most bezerk mosh pits this venue has ever seen stretched half way to the back of the hall during ' Brianstorm'. Turner, guitar slung well below chest height and even occasionally put to one side, was the epitome of studied nonchalance, crooning through a mildly malevolent cover of Nick Cave's 'Red Right Hand'. He lost his guitar's whammy bar during a frantic 'I Bet You Look...' and dedicated a caustic 'Pretty Visitor' to Homme, someone he says the band was "privileged to work with."

This new chapter in the Monkeys meteoric rise looks set to be as compelling as the first two instalments.