Arctic Monkeys forget the countdown

Arctic Monkeys have suffered an embarrassing moment at midnight on New Year's Eve - because they didn't realise they were supposed to countdown to 2012 at an Australian festival.

The band left the Falls Festival stage two minutes before midnight and assumed event bosses had something planned for the traditional countdown.

Unfortunately for Alex Turner's group and their fans, no one had told the bandmates that they were supposed to welcome in the New Year at the end of their set.

Silence greeted the New Year but then Turner returned to the stage at 12.01am local time to apologise for the miscommunication.

According to NME.com, he said: "Sorry, we thought someone else had organised a countdown. Let's do one now then, shall we?" before welcoming Crystal Castles to the stage.