Last Saturday night led me to Manchester’s very own Academy 3 to witness the encapsulating Arctic Monkeys tribute band, the “Arctic Numpties”. In front of a packed out crowd, the Numpties put on a show leaving the entire room bouncing.
As I have mentioned in my video review of the night which can be found by clicking here, I was lucky enough to be able to interview the Numpties before and it was great to be able to speak to them again after my own band “Crook on the Wall” had met them whilst playing at Venture Fest 2024. From catching their set on that day, I knew I was in for a treat and it’s safe to say that they did not disappoint.
The Numpties took off after the openers “Valentye” who’s set I only managed to catch the end of (as I was off interviewing the Numpties at the time) but I can definitely vouch that I enjoyed what I heard. They had some decent covers alongside a pretty solid original track “Hate Me” to finish things off.
I managed to get close up to the Numpties to take some photos and videos as the anthemic “Florescent Adolescent” kicked off the night. Being so close allowed me to realise how much attention to detail is put into making a tribute, not only from the impressive background which follows them on their tour, but from the outfits to even general presence on stage. Not to mention Ben’s flawless Alex Tuner impression, having acquired a vocal range strong enough to reach the heights of “Body Paint” as well as to mimic Alex Turner’s slightly controversial current accent amidst classic such as “Teddy Picker” and “I Bet That You Look Good On The Dancefloor”.
This same energy was held superbly throughout the show alongside suitable crowd interaction in regards to the current Arctic Monkeys. Speaking to the band before, they touched on how they try to keep up with the modern band band as close as possible, and having seen the Arctic Monkeys at Old Trafford myself in 2023 it’s easy to say they do an exceptional job of this. Whilst I personally would prefer the songs to have been slightly faster and closer to what they once were, it is entirely commendable that the band opt towards staying as current as they can be as it definitely gives a more authentic experience.
If I had to nit-pick, I would say that maybe “Cornerstone” was slightly too slow, even considering how the Arctic Monkeys have slowed down many of their classics. Then again, it would be wrong to allow one song to have any impact on the night as a whole, especially considering how to song still sounded huge regardless of the speed.
Overall, the Numpties are incredibly tight-knit as a band and seem as though they have been about much longer than the 5 Year Anniversary that they just passed.
If you’re an Arctic Monkeys fan such as myself, I would recommend these lot any day of the week, playing tracks from across all 7 albums. The size of some of the pits by the end where quite monumental to say the least, though as I mentioned in my review, if you want to find out what they were like then you’ll just have to catch the Numpties somewhere else on their current UK Tour.
Watch our video review and interview with the frontman HERE!
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