Live Review: Maximo Park - Academy 1, Manchester 06/10/2022
The North East’s premiere indie band Maximo Park return to Manchester after just a year away for a career spanning set. Did it live up to previous tours however?
The first thing that’s noticeable upon entering Manchester Academy tonight, is just how varied the crowd is. From the expected indie kids to aging rockers and everything in between, it shows just how wide Maximo Park’s appeal is.
Though first making a name for themselves alongside bands such as Bloc Party or Arctic Monkeys, Maximo’s trajectory has been a little more modest than the aforementioned, yet no less prolific. With seven studio albums now under their belt, not to mention regular well-attended tours up and down the country it’s easy to see why the band are as liked and as respected as they are.
And tonight is no exception. Though at first, it feels like it could go either way. Muddy sound renders frontman Paul Smith all but silent for the opening moments of first track ‘All of Me’. A nimble fingered sound tech quickly sorts that issue, though the sound quality still doesn’t improve entirely; a shame given that following tracks ‘The Coast Is Always Changing’ and ‘Leave This Island’ are two of Maximo’s best offerings.
A tactical shift on our part to in front of the sound desk remedies this somewhat, but the muddiness that plagued the sound for the first handful of tracks isn’t entirely escapable. Thankfully, what feels like a rare outing for ‘Karaoke Plays’ signifies a shift in the band, and, as if inspired by the first big singalong of the evening, sees things step up a gear.
Its as well they do. Having seen Maximo Park on multiple occasions, tonight’s start doesn’t feel like the band at their strongest, though once the pace has been picked up and sound issues rectified as best as possible, things seem a little more business as usual.
A slim and angular Smith prowls the stage; his moves as jaunty and erratic as ever, while his between song patter and crowd interactions are, as always, gentle, quietly funny, and often politicised. An early outing for ‘The National Health’ for instance comes is prefixed by some fit and choice words on Liz Truss, though elsewhere Smith is a little less on the nose.
Of course, having spent the last weeks being bombarded by talk of Truss, Torys and all the various other social ills that have plagued news articles recently, people have come tonight for a sense of escape, and as the setlist ticks over into its final third, that’s exactly what they get.
‘Our Velocity’ sends a swollen crowd into a polite frenzy, hands and pints raised aloft and words belted back to band on stage, backlit in pink and yellow strobes. From here on out we know we’re in safe hands as single after single is aired to an expectant audience that lap them up. A double barrel of ‘Going Missing’ and fan favourite ‘Books From Boxes’ finally sees the band break fully into their stride and an understated but not less anthemic ‘Versions of You’ brings things down a notch, only for a raucous rendition of ‘Apply Some Pressure’ to send the crowd back into rapturous delight.
Closing out the main set properly, it ensures any sound issues that plagued the first half of the evening all but forgotten, and as Paul Smith et al remerge back on stage once more, the roar that greets them is deafening. ‘Midnight on the Hill’ is a soft and gentle start to an encore, though its huge chorus always warrants a singalong and tonight is no exception. It’s something that continues into penultimate song and early single ‘Girls Who Play Guitars’ whilst an almost life-affirming ‘Graffiti’ ends things on the high that tonight was always promised, that occasionally just out of a sight.
Words by Dave Beech
Photos by Maryleen Guevara
