SAN FRANCISCO — Over their nearly two-decade reign, the Arctic Monkeys have gained a reputation as one of the biggest rock bands of the new millennium. The reasons why were still apparent at their Tuesday performance at Chase Center; their first in five years in the Bay Area.

The Alex-Turner-led band has retained its core, including bassist Nick O’Malley, drummer Matt Helders and guitarist-keyboardist Jamie Cook and has reached its well-oiled musical machine phase. The interplay between their cheeky wordplay, blazing riffs and indefatigable percussion made it a sight and sound to behold.

The Arctics played all the old favorites. Although the tour is technically in support of their seventh album, The Car, the band pulled just three songs from that LP.

The Car is the band’s most circumspect and esoteric album to date. It’s rife with detours and lost trains of thought. The show, too, took some creative liberties to create unexpected moments. There were sly twists like lengthy instrumental intros and Turner’s slow singing—lagging a beat behind the band—made even familiar songs slightly more unpredictable.

They began with one of the new ones; loungy, ‘70s-inspired “Sculptures of Anything Goes.” Turner, who wasn’t much talkative between songs, emerged on stage wearing his signature sunglasses and looking artfully disheveled as he ripped through the set.

“Brianstorm” followed and its quick-paced energy hurled the audience into immediate chaos—there was moshing! With its irrepressible percussion and thrusting riffs, it was a masterclass in creating tension and release. “Arctic Monkeys” glowed on the screen behind the stage, surrounded and illuminated by concentric circles.

“Greetings San Francisco,” Turner said as he drawled the words. He had barely uttered the last syllable before the band kicked into “Snap Out of It.” The audience sang along so loudly that it drowned out the frontman’s falsetto.

On “Crying Lightning,” while the repetitive drumming on the latter was entrancing, the bass playing was simply on another level. Then on the sumptuous “Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino,” Turner’s showmanship was on full display as he brought glamour to the song, lingering on his words.

There was a long instrumental transition into the popular “Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High?” The band followed with “Arabella,” including the Black Sabbath “War Pigs” riff outro.

Turner
 raised his arms, thrusted his hips and gazed confidently out toward attendees before extolling everybody to “get down.”

His falsetto was supported by Helders’ excellent backing vocals on “Knee Socks,” which had the audience clapping along. “Pretty Visitors,” about Arctic Monkeys’ immense success, showcased Helders’ brisk, furious drumming. When the brazen bridge slowed down, and the audience sang the last chorus.

The tension of “There’d Better Be a Mirrorball” recreated that sense of unease that started the band’s set. Lights displayed in fractal patterns transformed the stage and provided a visual pause between songs. Turner turned on the theatrics and sang as he gyrated and slinked toward the stage floor.

“Are we enjoying ourselves San Francisco?” he asked, this time singing the city’s name.

Warm orange lighting adding a nostalgic vibe during “505.” In perhaps the biggest climax of the night, attendees then joined in singing the chorus for the dark, almost gothic “Do I Wanna Know?” The guitar hook was impeccable over the boom-clap percussion.

The band then riffed through a couple of bars of the next song, “Body Paint,” as if not wanting to give it away too soon; countering Turner’s lyrics of being “so predictable/ I know what you’re thinking.” His voice soared as he sang a full-throated belt one moment and then a lethargic falsetto the next. The extended outro featured some of the best guitar playing of the night as he and Cook jammed side by side.

“We’ll do a couple more,” Turner announced after a quick break, starting the encore with “Hello You,” a song the band had only played a couple other times. They concluded the performance with the ever-popular “I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor” and “R U Mine?”

Irish post-punk band Fontaines D.C. opened the show with a kinetic energy that was all its own.

Grian Chatten and company kicked off “Nabokov,” off of 2022’s Skinty Fia. The song had an impetuous shoegaze-like sound with a slow rhythm and cavernous, echo-laden guitars. They followed it up with “Televised Mind,” from 2020’s A Hero’s Death. The next tune, “Big Shot,” also came at a frenetic pace.

The band paused briefly to exchange instruments before shifting to the slower whirling tempo of “A Lucid Dream.” Just as Turner, Chatten offered little banter beyond a brief greeting.

Drummer Tom Coll smacked his sticks together as Chatten darted around on stage. The short set included “Roman Holiday” and “Boys in the Better Land,” before they finished off with five-minute ballad “I Love You,” an ode to their home.  The song opened with a somber, haunting bass line and built to an intense finale.

Follow photographer Chloe Catajan at Instagram.com/riannachloe.