MAXIMO PARK // BOILER SHOP, NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE
Maximo Park kicked off their first proper UK headline tour in four years with an exuberant sold-out hometown show at Newcastle's Boiler Shop on Saturday night.
★★★★★ (5/5)
MAXIMO PARK PERFORMING AT NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE’S BOILER SHOP
PICTURE BY: | KENDALL WILSON PHOTOGRAPHY
Maximo Park kicked off their first proper UK headline tour in four years with an exuberant sold-out hometown show at Newcastle's Boiler Shop on Saturday night. Having been rescheduled from the early summer due to ongoing restrictions the show took place just two and half weeks since the band last performed in the city. On that occasion a small run of shows celebrating their 2007 sophomore album Our Earthly Pleasures was offered in gratitude and as an incentive to fans who bought their newest album Nature Always Wins which charted at number 2 in the UK upon its release back in February. A series of album release out-stores was also scheduled in late August with a couple of festival slots thrown in as well, so in actual fact the band should have been in the full swing of national touring by now.
A lot can change very quickly in these times however, as we're all acutely aware, and in the intervening period singer Paul Smith contracted, isolated and "recovered" from Covid-19, and so the first spark of magic around this night is that it even happened at all. Knowing the type of energetic performance Maximo Park usually deliver, it's not unreasonable to think they might have delayed to allow Smith more time to restore his stage-fitness. Yet in taking a risk and going ahead, under the circumstances, they gave a performance that redefined audience expectations and the very concept of leaving it all on the stage.
Beautifully matched in support for this tour is the charming indie pop of Chester's Peaness, who take as much delight in saying their band name as the audience does in hearing it. They seemed genuinely unfazed by the scale of the event or the weight of their responsibility, and their performance rightly carried an air of confidence and easy-going frivolity. Despite their dinner order not arriving in time to eat before going on stage they were utterly delightful, bopping and thumping their way through a set of tight harmonies and catchy refrains, welcoming all latecomers in from the bitter rain and wind outside.
From the moment Maximo Park walked on stage the atmosphere was thick with a kind of heavy joy and sparkling excitement; the room was ablaze with anticipation. For many people this was their return to live music and the band, knowingly, pitched a set to allow for maximum relief and release. New songs featured strongly throughout and were received with astonishing fervour. There can be no denying the singalong quality of recent singles like Baby, Sleep or I Don't Know What I'm Doing but even the quirky stop-start ambling of Child of the Flatlands was met with grateful enthusiasm. "Thanks for going on that psychedelic journey with us there" Smith quipped when it was done. An interesting mix of iconic hits and obscure singles representing each of their six previous albums fleshed out the set, a particular highlight being Calm from 2009's often neglected Quicken The Heart album. It was obvious from their response to each and every song that this was a crowd at capacity with love for the band and their music. Such rapturous, spontaneous and sustained applause might have felt excessive in pre-pandemic life but "in the parlance of our times", as Smith referred to it, the greatest and most authentic expression of appreciation is surely a whoop and a clap. The band clearly felt it too; their joy at the exchange and pure thrill of performing live again couldn't be contained and lit up their faces relentlessly.
If Paul Smith was feeling any lingering effects of illness on his lungs he didn't let it show through his voice, neither his pitch nor sustain was impaired - in this writer's opinion it was perhaps his best vocal performances of the year so far, and whether this was down to some extra effort in preparing to tour post-virus or simply a quality of the room on the night, it was undeniably powerful. While he purported to be losing his voice towards the end of the main set he still mustered a scissor kick during Books From Boxes, then when he admitted he was succumbing to fatigue the band blasted through a hyper rendition of Limassol before taking a quick break and returning for a three-song encore.
"As you can clearly see / I've lost some luminosity / I hadn't bargained for such intensity"
The opening lyric to Partly Of My Making bore a tangible irony that the audience seemed to relish. It's not the easiest count if you're dancing or swaying along but vocally the crowd gave as good as they got out of it. Had it not been demanded so emphatically the band probably could have gotten away without an encore, given the dazzling intensity of the first sixteen songs. But of course, they hadn't played Apply Some Pressure by that point either and with each passing song and Smith's energy waning there was a hint of disbelief when the moment finally came to close out the night with such a potent song. More than ever live music proves to be a healing force and Maximo Park know just how to deliver that vital medicine.
