Pitchfork

"This is the best crowd we've had so far on this tour," Voxtrot's Ramesh Srivastava remarked about halfway through the Austin quintet's set opening for Arctic Monkeys at Chicago's Riviera Theatre last night. He spoke too soon.

By the next banter break, some bratty Monkeys fan had let forth a particularly harsh "GET OFF THE STAGE!!" Ramesh, however, had the last laugh. "This one's for you," he retorted, and the band launched into "Brother in Conflict", which opens with the line "I wanna drown you in a pool of blood." Touché!

Along with "Firecracker", "Brother" appeared to galvanize Voxtrot, who had before this point seemed all too aware of the less-than-soft-and-warm reception they were getting (despite Ramesh's crowd-praising remarks). This crowd was, for the most part, not having Voxtrot's frilly jangle-pop and near-constant stage acrobatics. They were anxious to see the no-nonsense Arctic Monkeys, and who could blame them? Srivastava seemed relieved to announce that Voxtrot would soon be back in Chicago for a headlining show-- one which will likely find band and audience on the same page.

Those no-nonsense Monkeys, naturally, were received rapturously by the youngish crowd. Their appeal is understandable, and lead vocalist Alex Turner has stumbled into a pretty enviable stage persona. On the one hand, he's endearing and engaging, keeping his eyes wide open almost constantly and scanning his surroundings like a curious schoolboy. And although you couldn't understand half of his between-song chatter, it still felt natural and unrehearsed.

On the other hand, he may as well be rolling those eyes he keeps open, as he managed to appear aloof much of the time-- in a way that's still fairly charming. During parts of songs where he's not required to play guitar, Turner just stood there in front the mic, arms hanging lazily by his side like he was waiting in line at McDonald's or something. At once he's above all the silliness of the music biz, and yet still down-to-earth.

The kids are lucky to have a band like this.

ARCTIC MONKEYS






VOXTROT












ARCTIC MONKEYS






Arctic Monkeys:

09-13 Kansas City, MO - Uptown Theatre *
09-15 Austin, TX - Zilker Park (Austin City Limits Festival)
09-16 Dallas, TX - The Palladium Ballroom *
09-17 Houston, TX - Verizon Wireless Theater *+
09-18 New Orleans, LA - House of Blues *
09-21 Tempe, AZ - Marquee Theatre *
09-22 Tucson, AZ - Rialto Theatre *
09-23 Del Mar, CA - Del Mar Fairgrounds (Street Scene Festival)
09-25 Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Palladium *
09-27 San Francisco, CA - Bill Graham Civic Auditorium *
09-28 Eugene, OR - McDonald Theater *
09-29 Seattle, WA - WaMu Theater *
09-30 Vancouver, British Columbia - PNE Forum *
10-24 Buenos Aires, Argentina - Luna Park
10-26 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Marina del Gloria
10-28 São Paulo, Brazil - Skol Arena
10-31 Curitiba, Brazil - Pedreira Paulo Leminski

* with Voxtrot
+ with Queens of the Stone Age

Voxtrot:

09-13 Kansas City, MO - Uptown Theatre *
09-16 Dallas, TX - The Palladium Ballroom *
09-17 Houston, TX - Verizon Wireless Theater *$
09-18 New Orleans, LA - House of Blues *
09-20 Santa Fe, NM - CSF Pub
09-21 Tempe, AZ - Marquee Theatre *
09-22 Tucson, AZ - Rialto Theatre *
09-25 Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Palladium *
09-26 Pomona, CA - Glass House
09-27 San Francisco, CA - Bill Graham Civic Auditorium *
09-28 Eugene, OR - McDonald Theater *
09-29 Seattle, WA - WaMu Theater *
09-30 Vancouver, British Columbia - PNE Forum *
10-03 Minneapolis, MN - Triple Rock Social Club #
10-04 Chicago, IL - Metro #
10-06 Washington, DC - Black Cat #^
10-07 Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church #%
10-08 Hamilton, Ontario - Club Absinthe
10-09 Toronto, Ontario - Mod Club #%
10-10 Ottawa, Ontario - Zaphod Beeblebrox #%
10-11 Montreal, Quebec - La Sala Rossa #%
10-12 Northampton, MA - Pearl Street #%
10-13 Cambridge, MA - Middle East Downstairs #%
10-14 Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg #
10-15 Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg %

* with Arctic Monkeys
$ with Queens of the Stone Age
# with the Little Ones
^ with House & Parish
% with 1990s