It is December 15th. It is the tenth anniversary of Maximo Park’s debut A Certain Trigger. At 33, I'm too young to be sentimental, but ever since I helped put a gig on with them at Lincoln university over twelve years ago I've had a place in my heart for these four northerners with their hearts on their sleeves.
The band are playing as part of Rock City’s 35th Birthday celebrations but before the headliners, tonight’s main support are Stealing Sheep. The first thing to note is that the female four-piece are wearing neon glow outfits which, under Rock City lighting, makes them look completely naked from the legs down.
Their synthy Warpaint meets Alt-J sounds with a stand-up drummer, on-poiny synths and keyboards, and great harmonies. A heckler calls them "Future Sailors" a Mighty Boosh reference, but it doesn't bother them. They play a strong set and being signed to prolific label, Heavenly, we can expect to see more of them in 2016.
Opening with Girls Who Play Guitar and National Health, Maximo Park hit it off in style. Paul Smith hasn't aged a day – he is wearing his trademark bowler hat and fifties black and white shoes for this, the first set of the evening, which are songs from the band’s back catalogue after their debut. Only stopping to tie a double knot in his shoes, Smith and the band fly through Our Velocity and Books from Boxes to get us warmed up before they hit us with their debut album, A Certain Trigger, in full.
A quick outfit change from Mr Smith into his classic red shirt, black tie outfit and all of a sudden it's 2005 again. Apply Some Pressure is received with rapturous love and the sold-out venue is throbbing with a mosh pit like the crowd is in their mid-twenties again, all while Smith climbs speakers like a mountain goat. Graffiti is wicked and The Coast is Always Changing gets the biggest sing-a-long of the night. Listening to them for the first time in a while you can hear the influence from The Smiths and tonight they prove that they are still a force in the indie scene. Happy birthday to A Certain Trigger, let’s hope it lives as long in the memory as tonight’s gig will.
Maximo Park played at Rock City on Tuesday 15 December 2015 as part of Rock City’s 35th birthday celebrations and to celebrate the 10th anniversary of A Certain Trigger.
Maximo Park website
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