the boys from Sheffield [Wednesday, not United]...

I had 7 pints of Guinness last night. I was no longer at the 9:30 Club...I was in a pub in the middle of the city of Sheffield listening to the Arctic Monkeys play their brand of high energy brit pop music. Later I'm singing football chants with my mates at the bar and arguing about who should start for England in the summer World Cup.

Last night's concert was pretty good except for one thing: the Arctic Monkeys don't know how to engage an audience. They play and in-between their songs there is nothing but silence. They sort of half introduced themselves after playing 5 songs. At the end they just walked off stage after they were played what was apparently their last song. The house lights didn't go on and so the entire audience thought the band was taking a break...but then a couple guys appear onstage and they begin to break down the set. These "monkeys" need to stop taking notes from Oasis and need to realize that the reason they are there is because of the fans. The ridiculous speed in which they became popular (fastest-selling debut album in British charts history) will probably mean they'll crash just as fast. Also it's kinda funny...their most popular song contains [in the chorus] a line about a year that was before their time [before any of them were born]. That year was 1984. Yeah, I know.

After the concert Matt and I went to the basement bar and as I sat at the counter I heard chants of "Rooney, Rooney, Rooney!" I turn around and realize that the guys making this noise are referring to the player on the back of my t-shirt [I was wearing and English footballer's shirt] and I cheered them. When they stopped chanting I talked to them and realized they were actually from Sheffield [hometown of the Arctic Monkeys] and since I've actually visited Sheffield and have family in London and friends in the surrounding areas I began to bond with these lads. I order two more [half-priced] pints and we cheered everything and continued our drunken football chants until we were ordered to cease and desist by the 9:30 Club staff. Then about two minutes later we starting yelling out another football chant at the top of our lungs. It was fantastic.