Arctic Monkeys “Opening Night” Track Review

One of the first things that stands out about “Opening Night,” the first Arctic Monkeys song in four years, is the drums. It’s not exactly “Brianstorm,” but the Monkeys’ not-so-secret weapon that is Matt Helders took a bit of a backseat on 2018’s Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino and even more so on 2022’s loungey The Car, and here he is on “Opening Night” giving the band a kind of driving backbone that they they’ve mostly avoided in the years since 2013’s world-conquering AM. A few stabs of distorted guitar are thrown in for good measure too.

It’s not a return to form either, though. It’s a moody, sensuous song that sounds like a natural continuation of everything the Arctic Monkeys have been up to in the second half of their ever-evolving career. Atop some dark, slithering guitar, Alex Turner sounds as laid-back and impossibly cool as he has ever since he started slicking his hair back and donning suits, and he’s still full of the kind of lyrical tongue-twisters that only Alex Turner would write (“Popular slogan in a bucket of paint/Supercomputer on a jolly crusade”). The song gradually builds and builds, peaking with some falsetto harmonies that might be the closest Arctic Monkeys have ever come to sounding like Steely Dan. Having been quiet for so long (they haven’t even played live since 2023), this song finds them coming back with a subtle bang.

“Opening Night” was released as the first single from War Child’s just-announced HELP(2) charity album (the long-awaited sequel to 1995’s beloved HELP, overseen by longtime Arctic Monkeys producer James Ford), and we don’t wanna spread baseless rumors, but it recently surfaced that the same insider who leaked the Oasis reunion says Arctic Monkeys will be done after this song. If it’s true, it’s a frustratingly good way to go out.