Pop tour of the week: Arctic Monkeys, various venues

Their debut album shifted wild figures, but the Monkeys' growth curve since has been dotted with no less remarkable evolutionary leaps.

Early material showed Alex Turner to be a keen observer of Sheffield life, his band a nut-tight correlative for his fluent, demotic pitch. But a desert trip under QotSA bruiser Josh Homme's watch woke their inner guitar heroes, and R&B leanings have stoked saucier tendencies still on this year's cocksure AM.

And if the title hints at both rebirth and a new dawn, their recent leap in live confidence suggests both fit very nicely.

Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle, Tue; Phones 4u Arena, Manchester, Wed; Earls Court, London SW5, Fri & 26 Oct (all tickets 0844 844 0444; ticketmaster.co.uk)