Arctic Monkeys play ‘Mardy Bum’ for the first time in four years

Poet John Cooper Clarke also introduced the band with a reading of 'I Wanna Be Yours'

Arctic Monkeys rolled back the years as they treated fans to a rare performance of the Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not anthem 'Mardy Bum', the words of which you can hear echoing out of most student union bars and Indie nightclubs up and down the country every weekend. The band hadn't played the song in over four years, last giving it an airing during their headline performance at Leeds Festival in 2014. This time around though it was acapella, with Alex Turner and Alex Turner's latest vocal intonation singing along to nothing more than a slightly peculiar electronic drum beat. Oh, and a few thousand fans packed into Sheffield's Fly DSA Arena. You remember the words, don't you? https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=ZUcccL_9T0Y Punk poet John Cooper Clarke began the night's performance, kicking off proceedings with a reading of his 1982 poem 'I Wanna Be Yours', which the band turned into a soothing, reverb-drenched masterpiece on their album AM. https://twitter.com/Adam_Utd_/status/1043429439068102656 The Monkeys will play their final homecoming show in Sheffield on Saturday before ending their UK tour in Newcastle next week. You can read a review of their recent show in London's O2 Arena here. There was no 'Mardy Bum' on that occasion, but it didn't stop the fans singing it loud and proud down in the tube station afterwards as they rode the escalators up, up and away.