For crying lightening, that was a good gig.

Absolutely trouncing the crowd with loud, fast-paced precision, in a more relaxed manner than Pulp and Circumstance has ever experienced the boys in band, the Arctic Monkeys quite impressively waded into more mature songwriting territory–and they did it in a style so grand, there certainly will be no bah-“humbugs” over a response to their third studio record, out August 21st in the states.

And not only was the band clearly enthused with an opportunity to flip the scrip and play some new tunes–which included first single “Crying Lightening”, a seducing little warbler, as well as “Potion Approaching” and “Pretty Visitors”, both clearly heavier, faster, harder, and influenced, as they say, by Black Sabbath.

Alex Turner, who playfully kept the crowd entertained with quips–a rarity from the oft aloof front man–also managed to incite an incredible balance between his new found songwriting maturity to play some of the old goodies, albeit reworking them a bit to feel completely fresh (including an entirely new set of lyrics during the “Fluorescent Adolescent” instrumental).

Favoring the slower tunes the band avoids most often in a live gig (“The Only Ones Who Know”), the band even wowed with a cover of Nick Cave’s “Red Right Hand”–flexing their maturity even further by displaying sheer feat of prowess on the tune, a fast-paced banger with intriguing sonic explosion that I swear, could have been written by Cave himself just for this band instead of being one of The Bad Seeds’ most signature tunes.

Clearly, the band is enjoying working the record live before any proper tour after the release; the intimate venue housed the kitties and the sound appropriately, and it felt as if the gig-goers got a taste of it before perfected–the band most likely working on how to develop their well-known instrumental tracks, which serve as a way to merge songs live to keep the pace.

Opener Modey Lemon was the best choice the band has made for an American tour ever; their gritty, garage style rock fit quite nicely with the Arctics new found sound and one could envision the entire lot of them jamming out in the Mojave Desert, so claps all around for that.

Despite a quick set from the Pittsburgh outfit, the crowd that populated the place early seemed impressed by the heaviness of the tunes–and the absolute bombardment of hypnotic noise rock that slammed every wall of the Paradise and bounced the explosion back on gig goers.

For more on the opener, Modey Lemon, and to gobble up a few of the tracks, check out our preview for the gig here.

For the absolute splendid rendition of “Red Right Hand” by Arctic Monkeys, gander now.

File Under: The day Alex Turner shows up again in Boston, expect him to be wearing a dusty black coat, sporting a red right hand. And he’ll look very much the part…