Arctic Monkeys ask BBC not to show their Reading headline set live

The performance will be screened late on Sunday night.
Arctic Monkeys (Zackery Michael/PA)
Alex Green28 August 2022

TV viewers were unable to watch Arctic Monkeys’ performance at Reading festival on Saturday night after the band requested the set was not shown live.

The Sheffield group headlined the event’s main stage with a setlist including R U Mine?, I Bet You Look Good On The Dance Floor and new track I Ain’t Quite Where I Think I Am.

The BBC said fans would be able to watch them on BBC One from 11.35pm on Sunday.

A tweet from BBC Radio 1 on Saturday said: “At the artists request, we will not be able to bring you the Arctic Monkeys set live this evening.

“But you will be able to watch them tomorrow on BBC One, from 23:35.”

The tweet prompted a shocked reaction from some fans who were hoping to watch the performance live.

Arctic Monkeys are due to close the sister festival in Leeds on Sunday night.

The band – frontman Alex Turner, guitarist Jamie Cook, bassist Nick O’Malley and drummer Matt Helders – announced their seventh studio album, The Car, earlier this week.

The record was partly recorded in a priory in rural Suffolk and comes four years after their last record, 2018’s Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino.

All six of Arctic Monkeys’ previous studio albums have gone to number one in the UK.

The group’s debut, Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not, was released in January 2006 to critical acclaim and commercial success.

This year’s Reading and Leeds festivals also feature rapper Dave and The 1975 as headliners.

The 1975, fronted by singer Matty Healy, stepped in to replace Rage Against The Machine after the US punk band pulled out over a medical issue involving their frontman, Zack de la Rocha.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in