Maximo Park @ Prince of Wales,Melbourne (17/08/2007)

Sun 2nd Sep, 2007 in Gig Reviews

Leaving the wintry night behind, it was a nice surprise to see the Prince Band room decently filled with warm bodies listening politely to the newly-added support Ghostwood. The first tune floated above the crowd like a hazy winter soundscape, atmospheric and dreamy. This was then followed by a very different sounding post-rock style shoe-gazer with some lashings of 80s guitar riffs. The songs that followed moved from 90s grunge to soft rock. The indie drum-driven belters were their best and had them closest to hitting their target, but it was hard not to feel the audience was left a little confused.

The sold-out crowd was packing in and excited half-sentences about the main act were bouncing between the bodies in both local and British accents. The lights went down and the crowd went mental. Spacey sounds filled the room reminding me of Maximo Park’s latest album title Our Earthly Pleasures. The band members came on, all smiles, with Paul Smith waltzing in last. They got straight into their latest LPs opening track – œGirls Who Play Guitars’, a perfect example of their ability to write tightly wound songs that pack a punch.
– œAll Over The Shop’ was well received as the first of the old tracks, but these guys were saving the best for a little later. – œA Fortnight’s Time’ gave the crowd a lesson in their times tables while – œParisian Skies’ allowed for a more gentle expression by Smith and the band. It is at times like this that you become fully aware of the passion Smith puts into the songs. His facial contortions hint at a more meaningful interpretation, showing us that even though the music may lull, the vocals are full of bite.

Smith, ever the showman, treated the crowd not only to impassioned vocals but also his interpretative dancing. This involved much jerking and, of course, his famous scissor-kicks that came out in full force towards the end of the set and on crowd pleasers such as – œOur Velocity’, – œLimassol’ and – œApply Some Pressure’. If it were not for the genuine smiles from Smith at the sound of the thunderous applause after each and every short joy of a song, it would have been easy to mistake him for a Clockwork Orange ruffian. Standing there, jerking theatrically, face contorted; and all in a bowler hat. It was all very horror-show.

Finishing off with their bouncing shout-a-long – œThe Unshockable’, the crowd were reaching melting point. They erupted after this and the band didn’t seem to want to leave the stage. This was remedied with an extremely short absence, followed up by an encore that consisted of the lovely – œNosebleed’ and the final song – œGoing Missing’ taken from their debut. It was hard to believe it was all over at the end, with everyone standing around still flushed and full of fun.

Not for quite a few years have I witnessed the amount of love given by the crowd at this venue. And this love was not only warranted but well-received. You couldn’t help but smile when watching Paul Smith’s genuine look of incredulity at the roar of the crowd. These guys are a band at the top of their game. With a second album full of hits following nonchalantly on from their infectious debut A Certain Trigger, and a live show to match, they are an act not to be missed. Hopefully it won’t take them another two years to make it back down.