It's unusual, to say the least, to have to look to the US for some perspective on any matter - but US music critics are refusing to buy into the Arctic Monkeys hype, and well done them, we say. Not because CMU think that Arctic Monkeys are utter rubbish, not at all, but let's face it, they are a lot over-hyped.
Following the band's first live show in the US, a critic from Variety magazine, describing frontman Alex Turner as initially "openly hostile" to his audience, said that the band "have a long way to go". The review continued: "It was hard to square the generally uninspired performance with the album's youthful energy and crackling intelligence. Maybe this was an off night. Perhaps, for all the sales and hype, the band has been brought up too quickly and isn't ready to headline."
The Hollywood Reporter was a little kinder, saying that the gig was "not the messianic exercise it was impossibly built up to be" but that it still "felt like the real thing" and that despite their disappointing performance "Turner and the group have a rock authenticity that owes to a mix of genuine talent and serious youth. Stay tuned."
The Miami Herald and The Oakland Tribune, however, were pretty merciless. The Herald's piece on the band said "The teen rockers revealed a lack of seasoning. The drummer sang laughably out-of-tune harmonies, its lead singer wasn't especially charismatic, the music felt catchy but unexceptional."
The Oakland Tribune, under a headline which read 'That's It?' wrote: "You'll have to excuse the folks who might still be hanging around out front of the Great American Music Hall looking under rocks and hoping to find something more. How many times will we fall for this? Few bands have fallen short to a greater degree than the Arctic Monkeys did in San Francisco. But, then again, few have had so much room to fall. To be fair, the quartet did put on a likable show. If I had stumbled into the concert without a head full of advance buzz on the band, I might have been somewhat impressed. But we all travel with baggage."
Despite all that, around five thousand people are said to have turned up to try and get in to their SXSW gig in Austin on Friday, at 1200 capacity venue La Zona Rosa.