NME Festival Guide
2009
NME News
Exclusive - Arctic Monkeys speak after headlining Glastonbury
'I'd been dead nervous for ages' Alex Turner tells NME.COM
Arctic Monkeys have spoken exclusively to NME.COM about their headlining slot at Glastonbury last night (June 22).
The band headlined the Pyramid Stage on the festival’s opening night, and frontman Alex Turner told us he’d been wracked with nerves ahead of the show.
“I’ve been shit scared and dead nervous about it for ages,” he admitted backstage after the show. “I didn’t walk on thinking it would look like just another festival. In my head it was like ‘This is going to be a one off thing’ and it were, very much so.”
He added that the performance had blown his mind.
”It’s unreal, that’s the word I'd use, absolutely,” explained Turner. “Everything about it is terrific.”
The frontman also spilled the beans on how their Shirley Bassey cover had come about.
He said: “I said to James (Ford, ’Favourite Worst Nightmare’ producer) ‘I’d like to do a cover at Glastonbury’ but I didn’t know what to do, and he said ‘You better do something that’s linked to the festival’,” explained Turner. “So then he went and spotted Shirley Bassey was playing, and that led us to 'Diamonds Are Forever'. We love all those tunes, so we decided to play it.”
To see how the band’s performance went down read the full report on NME.COM now.
To read more of our interview with Alex Turner, get next week's issue of NME, which is on UK newsstands from June 27.
NME.COM will be bringing you news, blogs, videos and pictures live from the site.
Head to NME.COM/festivals/glastonbury for full details.
The band headlined the Pyramid Stage on the festival’s opening night, and frontman Alex Turner told us he’d been wracked with nerves ahead of the show.
“I’ve been shit scared and dead nervous about it for ages,” he admitted backstage after the show. “I didn’t walk on thinking it would look like just another festival. In my head it was like ‘This is going to be a one off thing’ and it were, very much so.”
He added that the performance had blown his mind.
”It’s unreal, that’s the word I'd use, absolutely,” explained Turner. “Everything about it is terrific.”
The frontman also spilled the beans on how their Shirley Bassey cover had come about.
He said: “I said to James (Ford, ’Favourite Worst Nightmare’ producer) ‘I’d like to do a cover at Glastonbury’ but I didn’t know what to do, and he said ‘You better do something that’s linked to the festival’,” explained Turner. “So then he went and spotted Shirley Bassey was playing, and that led us to 'Diamonds Are Forever'. We love all those tunes, so we decided to play it.”
To see how the band’s performance went down read the full report on NME.COM now.
To read more of our interview with Alex Turner, get next week's issue of NME, which is on UK newsstands from June 27.
NME.COM will be bringing you news, blogs, videos and pictures live from the site.
Head to NME.COM/festivals/glastonbury for full details.
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Alex Turner glastonbury festival 2007 Pic Rob Howard
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