Arctic Monkeys will make their Austin City Limits debut via PBS on Saturday. The UK rockers perform six songs during the show, which also includes a set from Austin, Texas’ Wild Child.
In a clip from the band’s ACL premiere, Arctic Monkeys deliver “The Ultracheese,” which is the final song from their 2018 album, Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino. In line with their trademark droll approach, the performance intersperses shots from the ACL camera crew alongside scenes culled from a faux documentary team, who can be seen in red jumpsuits in the video.
Singer Alex Turner plays up to the cameras in a dramatic, confessional fashion in the video as he emotes the lounge-styled ballad, where he opens with reflecting on past friendships and their fleeting nature. “Still got pictures of friends on the wall/I suppose we aren’t really friends anymore,” he sings. “Maybe I shouldn’t ever have called that thing friendly at all.”
The band’s ACL set includes “Crying Lightning” from 2009’s Humbug, two additional Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino songs (“One Point Perspective,” “Star Treatment”) and AM songs “Knee Socks” and “R U Mine?”
Arctic Monkeys are in the midst of their world tour in support of Tranquility Base & Casino with several Australia dates scheduled for next month before they continue on to Mexico and South America. In November, the group unveiled new track “Anyways,” a B-side from the band’s 7-inch vinyl pressing of their latest LP’s title track.