It’s got to be hard being the biggest band in Britain, especially when so many of the crowd are thinking ‘Don’t they look young’ when you walk on stage.

 

Arctic Monkeys aren’t an arrogant band. Yes, Alex Turner write with more passion then most Indie New Rave bands put together, but speak to him off stage and he is a quite, normal young man. The band made no bones about bricking it before Glastonbury, even sounding unusually disorientated on Jo Whiley’s show the lunchtime before today’s headlining performance.

 

Of course being so popular also means you are the band people love to hate, much in the Sex Pistols, and more recently Oasis vein. It took a lot of balls then for Alex Turner to open this massive set by walking on stage, playing one solitary opening chord to When The Sun Goes Does and standing back from the microphone expecting the audience to sing.

 

But this is Glastonbury, and that is exactly what they did. This isn’t a place where idols are felled, it’s a place where courage is rewarded. Indeed, Arctic Monkeys trademark singalong goes down better than anything in the day so far and is quickly followed by a thumping Brianstorm.

 

By now Turner has plucked up some courage. “Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen” he says charmingly with a wry smile on his face, before admitting “This is mad.” Indeed it is. But then again so is their entire rise to fame in the last two years. It must be remembered though that this isn’t a band with a huge hype surrounding them. there is no massive corporate marketing plan. Indeed debut album Whatever You say I Am... only delivered two singles, as will the second record most probably. It is the strength of the songs alone that has produced the mesmeric response from all areas of the globe. Of course though, we love them so much because of their adept skill at capturing a perfect picture of life in Britain today, no more so than the tales of nights out boozed up and clubbing. Still Take You Home, Dancing Shoes and From The Ritz To The Rubble follow that up by transporting every person in Glastonbury to that seedy nightclub with them.

 

The songs from the latest album slot in perfectly, and it seems Turner has everyone on his side. Constantly charming he introduces a “special treat” for the audience, b-side Temptation Greets You Like A Naughty Friend, accompanied half-way though by Dizzle Rascal, although a microphone fault left most of the crowd unable to hear the rapper. I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor is its usual rampant self, puling in the few doubters that remain, but it is new super-hit Fluorescent Adolescent that wins everyone’s hearts. Thousands of grinning faces are to be sen all around as Turner quips “You used to get it in your fishnets / Now You only get it in your nightdress,” in what is surely one of their finest lyrical moments to date.

 

Classics - how strange it is to be using that word so soon, but they are - Mardy Bum and Leave Before The Lights Come On leave the audience desperate for more and the encore doesn’t fail to please. The View From The Afternoon has everyone immediately back on their toes, before one of the most surreal and definitely cheeky moments of the weekend. “This one is for Shirl,” laughs Turner introducing a fantastically unique cover of Diamonds Are Forever, which they pull off with utter ease and finesse.

 

It’s not often Alex turner leaves his guitar, but strolling over to a small, but prominent organ at the front of the stage he launches into album closer 505, the song which separates Arctic Monkeys from those around them. It is a chance for the audience to appreciate just how special the last hour and a half has been, but more so the once timid Turner, who looks up into the crowd mid-song from his low position on the piano stool, giving exactly the same look of overwhelmed satisfaction that saw in a young Chris Martin five years ago.

 

It truly has been a special night for everyone involved. Only a song with the depth of vision and sense of perception of modern times such as A Certain Romance could cap this, which is does perfectly. Remember this night, when the Arctic Monkeys’ boys finally became men. Sublime.