Humbug Tour Explained

Concert Tour Name:	Humbug Tour
Artist:	Arctic Monkeys
Type:	World
Album:	Humbug
Number Of Shows:	105
Last Tour:	Favourite Worst Nightmare Tour (2007)
This Tour:	Humbug Tour (2009–10)
Next Tour:	Suck It and See Tour (2011–12)

The Humbug Tour was a world concert tour by British indie rock band Arctic Monkeys in support of their third studio album, Humbug.^[1] Although Humbug was not released until 25 August 2009, the tour started with a series of shows in Australia and New Zealand in the January of that year, followed by a break for the band to put the finishing touches on the record. The tour then resumed in Poland on 2 July 2009. The band proceeded to tour through 2009 and into 2010, ending with 15 dates in April across the United States and Mexico.^[2]

Set list

The set list evolved over the duration of the tour, but primarily focused on songs from Humbug. Songs from Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not were primarily left out of the set, with "The View from the Afternoon", "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor", and "Still Take You Home" being the only songs to regularly feature from the band's record breaking debut album. The set list was briefly modified to include "When The Sun Goes Down" and a snippet of "Mardy Bum" during the November 2009 European dates. "When the Sun Goes Down" also returned for select shows in 2010, but "Mardy Bum" did not.

Generally, the band opened each gig with a song from Humbug (either "Pretty Visitors" or "Dance Little Liar"), followed by "Brianstorm", "This House is a Circus" and "Still Take You Home". The mid-part of the set list was commonly rotated but generally featured two songs from Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, three songs from Favourite Worst Nightmare, seven from Humbug and a cover of Nick Cave's 1994 hit; "Red Right Hand". In addition, a B-side from the Humbug sessions would often make the set list (often "Sketchead" or "Catapult"), although Favourite Worst Nightmare B-side "Nettles" was included during the last US leg in Spring 2010. Following the last song of the main set (usually "Do Me a Favour" in North America and "Secret Door" in Europe), the band returned for a two-song encore.

The encore typically consisted of a new version of "Fluorescent Adolescent", which had been transposed to include a snippet of a different song (most commonly "Only You Know" by Dion or "Strange" by Patsy Kline), as well as standard closing number "505". Both songs in the encore were generally from the band's 2007 album Favourite Worst Nightmare as a few variations included either "If You Were There, Beware", or the aforementioned B-side "Nettles".

Songs performed

Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not

• "The View from the Afternoon"
• "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor"
• "Dancing Shoes" (dropped after 26 January 2009)
• "Still Take You Home"
• "When The Sun Goes Down" (occasionally played)
• "From the Ritz to the Rubble" (dropped after 24 January 2009, played from 2 to 9 July 2009)

Favourite Worst Nightmare

• "Brianstorm"
• "Fluorescent Adolescent" (with snippets of "Mardy Bum", "Only You Know" by Dion or "Strange" by Patsy Kline)
• "Only Ones Who Know" (added on 2 July 2009, dropped after 28 September 2009)
• "Do Me a Favour"
• "This House Is A Circus"
• "If You Were There, Beware"
• "505" (added on 2 July 2009)

Humbug

• "My Propeller" (added on 1 August 2009)
• "Crying Lightning"
• "Dangerous Animals" (occasionally played)
• "Secret Door" (added on 2 July 2009)
• "Potion Approaching"
• "Fire and the Thud" (added on 28 March 2010, omitted on 6 April 2010)
• "Cornerstone" (added on 1 August 2009)
• "Dance Little Liar" (added on 14 September 2009)
• "Pretty Visitors"
• "The Jeweller's Hands" (played occasionally from August 2009 to March 2010)

B-sides

• "Da Frame 2R" (dropped after 30 January 2009, played from 2 July 2009 to 7 August 2009)
• "Nettles" (added on 28 March 2010)
• "Red Right Hand" (Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds cover) (occasionally played)
• "Catapult" (occasionally played from December 2009 to April 2010)
• "Sketchead" (added on 16 September 2009, dropped after 11 December 2009, played on 28 March 2010)
• "Joining The Dots" (added on 28 March 2010)

Others

• "Leave Before the Lights Come On" (dropped after 24 January 2009, re-added on 2 July 2009, omitted on 1 August 2009, dropped again after 3 August 2009)

Tour dates

Date! scope="col" width="175"

City	Country	Venue
13 January 2009	Wellington	New Zealand	Wellington Town Hall
15 January 2009	Auckland		The Powerstation
16 January 2009			Mount Smart Stadium
18 January 2009	Gold Coast	Australia	Gold Coast Parklands
20 January 2009	Melbourne		Palais Theatre
22 January 2009	Sydney		Hordern Pavilion
23 January 2009			Sydney Olympic Park
24 January 2009	Melbourne		Palais Theatre
26 January 2009			Flemington Racecourse
30 January 2009	Adelaide		Adelaide Showground
1 February 2009	Perth		Claremont Showground
2 July 2009	Gdynia	Poland	Gdynia-Kosakowo Airport
4 July 2009	Hradec Králové	Czech Republic	Hradec Králové Airport
5 July 2009	Vienna	Austria	Arena
7 July 2009	Split	Croatia	Prokurative
9 July 2009	Novi Sad	Serbia	Petrovaradin Fortress
1 August 2009	Jersey City	United States	Liberty State Park
2 August 2009	Montreal	Canada	Parc Jean-Drapeau
3 August 2009	New York City	United States	Highline Ballroom
5 August 2009	Boston		Paradise Rock Club
7 August 2009	Chicago		Metro Chicago
8 August 2009			Grant Park
13 August 2009	Oslo	Norway	Oya Festival
14 August 2009	Gothenburg	Sweden	Way Out West Festival
15 August 2009	Copenhagen	Denmark	Beat Day Festival
21 August 2009	Erfurt	Germany	Highfield Festival
22 August 2009	Hasselt	Belgium	Pukkelpop Festival
23 August 2009	Biddinghuizen	Netherlands	Lowlands Festival
26 August 2009	London	England	Brixton Academy
28 August 2009	Leeds		Leeds Festival
29 August 2009	Reading		Reading Festival
14 September 2009	San Diego	United States	Soma San Diego
15 September 2009	Los Angeles		Hollywood Palladium
16 September 2009	Oakland		Fox Theatre
18 September 2009	Portland		Wonder Ballroom
19 September 2009	Seattle		The Showbox @ The Market
20 September 2009	Vancouver	Canada	Malkin Bowl
22 September 2009	Salt Lake City	United States	In the Venue
23 September 2009	Denver		Ogden Theatre
25 September 2009	Minneapolis		First Avenue
26 September 2009	Milwaukee		The Rave
28 September 2009	Columbus		Newport Music Hall
29 September 2009	Toronto	Canada	Kool Haus
30 September 2009	Philadelphia	United States	Electric Factory
2 October 2009	New Orleans		House of Blues
3 October 2009	Houston		House of Blues
4 October 2009	Austin		Austin City Limits Festival
5 October 2009	Dallas		The Palladium Ballroom
18 October 2009	Tokyo	Japan	Liquid Room
19 October 2009			Budokan
3 November 2009	Antwerp	Belgium	Lotto Arena
5 November 2009	Paris	France	Zenith
6 November 2009
8 November 2009	Berlin	Germany	Treptow Arena
10 November 2009	Amsterdam	Netherlands	Heineken Music Hall
11 November 2009
13 November 2009	Liverpool	England	Echo Arena
14 November 2009	Sheffield		Sheffield Arena
16 November 2009	Newcastle upon Tyne		Metro Radio Arena
17 November 2009	London		Wembley Arena
18 November 2009
20 November 2009	Birmingham		National Indoor Arena
21 November 2009	Manchester		Manchester Evening News Arena
22 November 2009	Nottingham		Trent FM Arena
24 November 2009	Glasgow	Scotland	SECC
25 November 2009	Belfast	Northern Ireland	Odyssey Arena
26 November 2009	Dublin	Ireland	The O2
6 December 2009	Chicago	United States	Riviera Theatre
7 December 2009	Pittsburgh		Mr. Smalls Theatre
8 December 2009	Washington, D.C.
10 December 2009	New York City		Terminal 5
11 December 2009
13 December 2009	Boston		House of Blues
14 December 2009	Montreal	Canada	Métropolis
26 January 2010	Milan	Italy	Palasharp
27 January 2010	Grenoble	France	Summum
29 January 2010	Rennes		Liberté
30 January 2010	Bordeaux		Medoquine
31 January 2010	Montpellier		Zenith
2 February 2010	Porto	Portugal	Coliseum
3 February 2010	Lisbon		Campo Pequeno
5 February 2010	Madrid	Spain	Palacio Vistalegre
6 February 2010	Barcelona		Sant Jordi Club
8 February 2010	Munich	Germany	Zenith
9 February 2010	Offenbach am Main		Stadthalle Offenbach
10 February 2010	Düsseldorf		Philipshalle
13 February 2010	Valencia	Spain	Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias
27 March 2010	London	England	Royal Albert Hall
28 March 2010			O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire
1 April 2010	Miami Beach	United States	Fillmore Miami Beach at Jackie
2 April 2010	Tampa		The Ritz
3 April 2010	Hollywood		Hard Rock Live
5 April 2010	Athens		40 Watt Club
6 April 2010	Raleigh		Disco Rodeo
7 April 2010	Baltimore		Rams Head Live
9 April 2010	Covington		Madison Theatre
11 April 2010	St. Louis		The Pageant
12 April 2010	Lawrence		Liberty Hall
13 April 2010	Tulsa		Cain's Ballroom
15 April 2010	Tempe		The Marquee
16 April 2010	Las Vegas		House of Blues
18 April 2010	Pioneertown		Pappy and Harriet's Pioneertown Palace
21 April 2010	Mexico City	Mexico	Estadio Azteca's Esplande
22 April 2010	Guadalajara		Foro Alterno

Personnel

Arctic Monkeys

• Alex Turner – lead vocals, guitar, acoustic guitar, baritone guitar; keyboards (January–February 2009)
• Jamie Cook – guitar, baritone guitar
• Nick O'Malley – bass guitar, backing vocals
• Matt Helders – drums, percussion, backing vocals

Touring musicians

• John Ashton – keyboards, guitar, acoustic guitar, baritone guitar, percussion, backing vocals (July 2009–April 2010)

Guests

• Josh Homme – vocals and tambourine on "Dance Little Liar" and "Pretty Visitors" (on Pappy and Harriet's Pioneertown Palace concert)

Notes and References

1. Web site: Eliscu . Jenny . Arctic Monkeys' Desert Journey: The Making of 'Humbug' . 3 September 2009 . . 7 March 2020.
2. Web site: Relax News . Arctic Monkeys to tour Europe in January 2010 . . 9 December 2009 . 7 March 2020.