Maximo Park / !!!

I am, by nature, a bit of a cynic. Cynical about Stage 2’s ability to house a gig of this size, cynical about Maximo Park’s ability to produce an album that is comparable to the brilliance of ‘A Certain Trigger’. Here then lies a story of my reformation:

The setting is Newcastle upon Tyne on possibly the busiest day in its history. Across the city centre The Killers are playing for 11,000 people at the Metro Radio Arena, the Academy is hosting James Morrison, and Ricky Gervais is at Newcastle City Hall for the latest instalment of his ‘Obviously’ tour. Newcastle is now well and truly on the entertainment map with no little help from the band who I was heading to see.

But I was still sceptical. I love to be disappointed. I hoped to be disappointed with this gig. Nothing would have given me more pleasure than to label Maximo Park as another ‘one album wonder’ who yet again fell at the ‘difficult second album’ hurdle. Nothing would have pleased me more than to say the support act were an amateur band with no prospects. It makes this review a hell of a lot easier.

Imagine my disappointment then, when !!! (Chk Chk Chk) were actually good. Not only were they good, they were innovative, charismatic and nothing like the pretentious eccentricity that I expected from the name. Fresh from a Red Hot Chili Peppers support slot, they clearly exuded confidence in their ability to make their unique brand of music which draws influences from a wide range of genres including disco, funk and indie. The result was a strange camp rave of Pop that sounded like a Klaxons vs. Scissor Sisters dance-off, and a lot more besides.



Let’s face it, they were never going to be your bog-standard 4-piece band, but they pull it off with musical talent and refreshing originality. All 8 members (including 2 drummers) were performers as well as musicians and, although sometimes descending into scenes of chaos, they all contributed towards an utterly unique experience.

The conclusion of their performance led to another disappointment as I suddenly appreciated the quality of the sound of their set. Despite being a relatively small venue, Stage 2 more than did justice to the music. I could feel myself beginning to change. Life already seemed more positive. I’m not sure what it feels like, but I think I might even have been looking forward to the Maximo Park gig...



Perhaps the most reconciling feature of cynics is their sense of shame and I am the first to admit that I was ashamed. With myself. Ashamed that I could ever have doubted these guys. You see, behind the deceptively common name of Paul Smith lies arguably one of music’s greatest creative geniuses in our modern era. Someone that is not limited to the formulaic musical prerequisites of the everyman. He is a pioneer. A great northern pioneer of musical entertainment and his effects are already being seen in the hoards of up and coming acts in the North-east.

I was informed of this from the very first few notes of their opening song ‘Girls Who Play Guitars’, a raucous return to the old form that has seen them reach the reputation that they currently enjoy. It was clear that they haven’t strayed too far from the sound of ‘A Certain Trigger’ but at the same time they have built on it to provide the variation and intensity that was sometimes previously lacking in their old material.

Although clearly an event to promote their new album, Maximo Park still never lost sight of the fact that this was primarily an issue of entertainment, interspersing the new songs such as the brilliant new single ‘Our Velocity’, with old crowd pleasers like ‘Postcard of a Painting’.


Here raises another point that I am usually skeptical about. The fact that so many bands are so wrapped up in their own publicity that they forget about the actual act of entertaining those who will buy their product. Maximo, however, have not, lost sight of this. Indeed, they are very grounded people and Smith talks of watching bands in this very room in his youth.

Nevertheless, many of their new songs are given a mainstream airing tonight and to very positive effect. Particularly seen in the originality of ‘Books From Boxes’, a “lovesong about someone who doesn’t break a promise”. It, in itself, paid tribute to the maturing sound of Maximo Park as it adopted new rhythms and melodies that almost played on the contrasts it had with their other material.

Much of their new album seems to carry on in the same, life affirming vein with its erudite lyrics and energetic brilliance. ‘By The Monument’ speaks of waiting for someone in the wider context of life’s possibilities. At one point during ‘Russian Literature’, Smith reads from a book like it is some kind of inspired gospel on life as he speaks of its limited nature and boundless muses. This just adds to the feeling of awe that I was now developing for this group of 5 men, clearly at the height of their musical prowess, cavorting through their set with Smith holding his microphone stand to the sky like a deity interacting with the heavens. Oh Maximo! What have you done to me?!

Finishing with ‘Graffiti’ the crowd roars for an encore which duly comes in the shape of ‘Limassol’, and the brilliant ‘Unshockable’, before fading out on the final strains of ‘Going Missing’.

And so I left the venue a changed man. Stripped of my cynicism. I must find something else to moan about.

FUTURE GIGS

sorry, we currently have no gigs listed for this act.