Maximo Park @ Capitol(17/11/09)

Tue 24th Nov, 2009 in Gig Reviews

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The Wednesday night crowd was very healthy in size and had crammed down on to the dancefloor well before the 9:30 start time. Bouncing out on to stage with more enthusiasm than could have been expected, as the show was the last in their self proclaimed 9 month odyssey around the globe, the lads from Newcastle greeted the crowd and launched into Quicken The Heart opener Wraithlike.

Smith is all passion up front which is no surprise given the strong live performance reputation the band has earned and the crowd immediately responded; getting a bit wraithlike themselves up the front.

Fears of mostly new material being played were put to bed with the opening chords of Graffiti taking crowd excitement up clearly another notch. A sporadic criticism of the band has always been Smith’s lyrical content but it is compensated by his larger than life stage presence that seems to lift the other band levels up with him.

Some less notable tunes from the second and third LPs got an airing with the majority sounding more muscular in a live setting and benefiting from it. The first real sing-along for the night was Apply Some Pressure with all but a few larynxes in the room contributing to the revelry of their first big single. It does make one wonder though how big Maximo could be if Smith could capture the bombastic hooks on tracks like Apply Some Pressure more regularly. Tracks like the follower of A Cloud of Mystery make Smith sound like a wizened new-age poet, rather than just trying to write the great pop tunes which are clearly within reach.

Acrobat was another highlight and another track that illustrates Maximo’s versatility with the ballad coming across brilliantly to the dedicated faithful. Limassol (with a back scratch guitar move from Duncan Lloyd) preceded a – œsong about carnal activities’ in Let’s Get Clinical which is a standout from the most recent album with its funky riffing and seedy lyrics. Finishing the main set with Girls Who Play Guitars, the band departed with a note that “this is the last time we’ll be playing these song for a very long time” which perked up some ears with whispers about whether that meant the band were breaking up, though it really sounded like a bit of a throw away.

Reappearing after the formality of a “Maximo, Maximo!” chant, they eased into the atmospheric opening of Calm. The track builds momentum and kept the crowd interested with its half chorus and shift back to first gear before it moved into the rollicking mid section and abrupt ending. The next song was a cover of The Go-Betweens 1998 single Was There Anything I Could Do, though from the lack of crowd response, it seemingly went over most heads in the house. Our Velocity rounded off the night in explosive fashion to indicate that unless the band does indeed break up, they are sure to be back gracing the West sometime soon.

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