Alex Turner, Arctic Monkeys (Photo: Live4ever Media)
Arctic Monkeys drummer Matt Helders believes the band are ‘more ready to headline festivals’ as they prepare to return to Reading/Leeds this summer.
“We’ve got better, now we’re more ready to headline festivals,” he tells NME. “Before, it was more because of demand. Still, we held off from a lot of things pretty well in terms of doing stuff like arena tours.”
“We did the second-to-last slot, then the headline; it felt like we built up to it. But as a band and as performers, if I dare say that, I feel we’ve got better at it. I won’t be anywhere near as nervous as I was. Excited, but not scared.”
The Sheffield group’s last headline appearance at Reading/Leeds occurred in 2009, but the group has grown immeasurably as a big stage live act since Live4ever witnessed a flat performance that year. Their return to Glastonbury last June emphatically proved as much, and helped them land 2013 Headliner Of The Year prizes at both the UK and European Festival Awards.