Dan Walker defends Arctic Monkeys after backlash over ‘woeful’ Glastonbury performance

Arctic Monkeys have divided fans with their performance on the Pyramid Stage at this year’s Glastonbury Festival 2023. Many spectators who watched the gig on Friday night (23 June)  both in the crowd and from their living rooms felt short-changed by the performance.

Fans were critical of the setlist for the headliner show, with the majority expecting the Sheffield-formed group to play some of their classic hits, instead of their lesser-known newer music, such as songs from ‘The Car’. 

Channel 5 News presenter, Dan Walker, was one of a select few fans of the group to enjoy the gig, and he made his opinion known on Twitter, writing: “Arctic Monkeys = Sheffield class at #Glasto”. However, many of the Vanished presenter’s 800,000 followers disagreed with him.

One of Dan’s followers said: “Everyone remembers that one gig when a band disappears up their own hole. This is it.” Another user added: “I think they lost it years ago. They need to get this Phase out of their system and get back to basics #emperorsnewclothes”.

A third user said: “They were crap Dan. You don’t know what you’re on about. Woeful performance that had thousands leaving well before the end of their set”. This prompted Dan to jump to the Sheffield-formed group’s aid: “A lot of people seem to disagree about Arctic Monkeys at #Glastonbury. That’s ok… it lacked some of the attitude of the past and won’t go down as a #Glasto classic but I still enjoyed it 👍”.

Despite what was received as a poor showing at Glastonbury Festival, Alex Turner’s group have blown fans away during their UK and Ireland tour which has been underway since May. The indie-rock band surprised fans by playing some of their greatest hits, such as Mardy Bum, for the first time in over 10 years.

Fans of the globally-adored band were hoping for more of the same at Glastonbury, but were clearly disappointed by the abundance of newer music performed.