Maximo Park

When Maximo Park come to town there’s usually a surprise or two to be had, but when the Noisettes pulled out of their support slot, Bombay Bicycle Club was not the surprise I would’ve hoped for. Their adequate songs could alas not make up for the drug-fuelled sweaty gurns which pervaded the band’s faces – as you could imagine, this distracted everyone somewhat from their mediocre music. Nonetheless the job was done and the stage cleared for Maximo; exploding with sirens flashing on either side of the stage, first song Wraithlike is the clear winner for best track on the highly anticipated third album Quicken The Heart. The stabbing guitar and drum pounds create instant frenzy amongst the crowd – Maximo Park waste no time in stamping their authority all over Birmingham’s 02 Academy and rightly so, the boring, barren venue simply allows them to inject colour, creativity and a whole load of excitement onto a bland stage with a questionably sticky floor.

Newcastle lyricist Paul Smith did not disappoint the crowd and played up to his reputation as a firecracker, scissor kicking his way through ‘Our Velocity’ and ‘Girls Who Play Guitars’ and dramatizing every word sung with his incredible, storytelling, facial expressions and dance moves. Despite these powerful crowd favourites kicking up a storm, Maximo Park indulged us with ballads old and new; ‘I Haven’t Seen Her In Ages’ and ‘Nosebleed’ especially pulled a heartstring. New song ‘The Penultimate Clinch’ made heads nod in appreciation while latest single ‘The Kids Are Sick Again’ wowed the audience with its pounding chorus, all new songs are worthy of praise but perhaps it would have been better if there was more of a gap between the release of the album and the tour so that fans could have had more time to familiarise themselves with the songs. Oddly enough for a third album tour, the band decided to play new songs in bulk which unfortunately left the audience a bit cold before rounding off the set with a superb encore including ‘Graffiti’ and ‘Apply Some Pressure’ which, needless to say, went down a treat.

It seems that Maximo Park have emerged from their long-standing under-dog status and have claimed their rightful place amongst the other pop and rock successes of today; although, interestingly enough, their latest work does not seem quite as commercially accessible as their previous efforts. However, I can only imagine that Quicken The Heart will prove to be just as successful as its two predecessors. It’s no surprise that live performance is really what makes this band as not only is Paul Smith’s showmanship truly outstanding and effortlessly captivating, but the timing and musical precision of the band as a whole is simply astounding. Maximo Park are a true live band and deserve the attention they get and, despite the slow middle section of new songs, managed to pull together a tremendous live set in a shoddy Birmingham basement. All in all, Maximo Park are great; Birmingham 02 Academy not so great; old songs super; new songs bloody brilliant!