Narc. Magazine Online
Reliably informed
Claire Dupree witnesses a joyful and raucous celebration of the band’s 20 year career
Image by Zeinab Lenton
There are some bands that have the ability to transport you back to a place and time with their music; Maxïmo Park were probably the first band from the North East that I truly fell in love with after moving here in 2002, and I’ve seen them grace every kind of stage imaginable over the last 20 years, from massive festivals to a boat on the River Tyne (A Certain Trigger’s album launch, in fact).
The band cranked up the ominous refrain of set opener Signal & Sign, and its lyric “you left your home town where you grew up, I hadn’t noticed how your accent had changed” took me right back to the early summer of 2005, and all over again I was smitten.
Ending this 20th anniversary tour in the city in which they originally formed must have packed even more of an emotional punch for the band, and it’s clear they’re having a blast. Paul Smith had fun with the cinematic set’s colourfully lit steps, which enabled his signature leaping scissor kicks, and (relatively) new addition keyboardist Jemma Freese was in fine animated spirits.
As we’re here to celebrate the 20th anniversary of A Certain Trigger the whole album got an airing, interspersed with tracks from the rest of their back catalogue, which gave the set a nice pace and also served to show how frantic and frenetic their early material was. So, we were treated to the poignancy of I Want You To Stay and the urgent stabs of Limassol (dedicated, as always, to ex-bassist and the track’s co-writer Archis Tiku), while the typically unhinged rally of The Night I Lost My Head took Smith back to a raucous night at the Head of Steam (we’ve all been there). We also got a rare airing of b-side A19 (much to the Teesside and Wearside contingent’s glee) and, of course, a positively supersonic Apply Some Pressure.
Personal highlights included flawless torch song Karaoke Plays, the catty despair of Girls Who Play Guitars and Books From Boxes, which demonstrates some of the band’s finest songwriting and the power of Smith’s voice.
There was a real outpouring of emotion after Our Velocity (only four songs into the set), and again at the end of the triumphant encore and final song Going Missing, which was clearly quite affecting for the band. With the house lights half up, and an entire audience on its feet loudly showing their appreciation, Smith seemed genuinely touched, lingering onstage long after his band mates had left, perhaps not quite ready to come back down to earth.
