Daniel Radcliffe says Arctic Monkeys played the best gig he's ever seen

16 February 2026, 14:46 | Updated: 16 February 2026, 15:05

Daniel Radcliffe and Arctic Monkeys — Daniel Radcliffe has praised an early Arctic Monkeys show. Picture: Paul Mobley/NBC via Getty Images, Phoebe Fox

By Jenny Mensah

The Harry Potter star has reminisced about the time he watched the Sheffield rockers in a tent when he was just 16 years old.

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Daniel Radcliffe says Arctic Monkeys are the best band he's ever seen live.

The actor - who's best known for portraying Harry Potter in the famous fantasy franchise - took part in an Interview with Rolling Stone, where he was quizzed about the best concert he'd ever attended.

"I went to the Reading Festival [when I was] 16, and Arctic Monkeys were playing in a tent," he recalled of the Sheffield band's stint in the Carling tent on August 2005. "They were halfway up the bill of the smallest tent of the festival because they were not yet famous, except they were. The album [2006’s Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not] wasn’t out, but if you were illegally downloading music, which, I’m sorry, I did, you could have listened to the whole thing."

The 36-year-old star went on: "Watching this band right on the cusp of becoming massive, where they were in a tent that was probably for a few thousand people, and there were probably like 10,000 people trying to cram in there, that was really cool."

According to setlist.fm, Arctic Monkeys played an eight-song-long mini set at Reading Festival 2005, which saw them perform Fake Tales of San Francisco, I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor, Dancing Shoes, From the Ritz to the Rubble, Mardy Bum, Perhaps Vampires Is a Bit Strong But..., When the Sun Goes Down and A Certain Romance.

By January the following year, the band's debut had been unleashed and stormed into the charts at UK number one, seeing them return to Reading to play an iconic set on the main stage in 2006.

Watch a snippet of the band's 2005 Reading performance below:

Arctic Monkeys Reading Festival 2005 (When The Sun Goes Down)

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Radcliffe's comments after the band returned with opening night their first slice of new material in four years and the first single for War Child's upcoming HELP(2) album.

The moody and reflective track features on HELP(2) - a new charity album for War Child, which will be released on Friday 6th March with all proceeds going to "support of War Child's vital work delivering immediate aid, education, specialist mental health support, and protection to children affected by conflict around the world."

Arctic Monkeys – Opening Night (Visualiser) – HELP(2)

Speaking about the making of the track and the what makes the band come back together after all these years, Monkeys drummer Matt Helders told Radio X: "I don't think there's necessarily a trick to it. Like, when we've been talking about the fact that it's 20 years since the first album (Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not) came out, it just doesn’t feel like that. So, I don't feel like it's done or it's like an old thing."

The 39-year old rocker added: "There's the same amount of enthusiasm to spend time with each other, even and I think starting from there is probably a good point. Like, no one's sick of each other in this band. Everyone would be with each other socially or, like, if we're making music.”

"And I think that was a big thing for us from the beginning," the sticksman went on. "That first year or two could have been make or break if we didn't have a solid relationship with each other. So, the fact that that's still there will always bring us back together in one way or another.”