Maxïmo Park

Alt-rockers Maxïmo Park wrapped up their latest UK tour in their home base of Newcastle with the second of two shows at the O2 Academy. The band have been touring in support of their fifth studio album "Too Much Information" - a genuine candidate for ugliest album cover of the year, which is a shame because the album represents something of a return to form after 2012's disappointing "National Health" which was released in the darkest depths of the recession. The new album sees an increased reliance on beats and electronics but singer and writer Paul Smith remains a poetic, romantic lyricist and Duncan Lloyd a seriously underrated and melodic guitarist. The tour got off to something of a bad start with a couple of shows having to be rescheduled due to Smith requiring an emergency eye operation, but to his credit he soldiered on even though this meant that his stage presence wasn't quite as animated and acrobatic as normal. It also provided a rare case of a rock star wearing sunglasses on stage through necessity rather than affectation. Opening with a fine trio of songs - the catchy "Give, Get, Take" from the new album, "Our Velocity" and "Signal & Sign" - the band soon got into their rhythm, with Lukas Wooller pogoing around his keyboard while Smith in trademark trilby, shades and check-suit struck a series of camera pleasing poses and even demonstrated some sub-Peter Crouch style robotics for the crowd crushed against the barrier. Although the new material such as "Brain Cells", the terrific "Midnight On The Hill" and "Leave This Island" was greeted enthusiastically, it was the songs from the first two albums “Our Earthly Pleasures” and “A Certain Trigger” that got the adrenalin pumping quickest and the biggest crowd responses. Old favourites like "Graffiti", "Limassol", "Books From Boxes", "By The Monument" (always popular in Newcastle, where the Academy is only a few hundreds yard from said monument), "Girls Who Play Guitars" and a tremendous version of "Apply Some Pressure" received wild responses. Some of the better songs on “National Health” were also performed such as the title track and “The Undercurrents”. A few years ago I saw Maxïmo Park play to a packed crowd at Newcastle Arena - where they even flirted with lasers - and it seemed for a time that they might be lost to the bigger sheds which would have been a shame. Venues like the Academy are the perfect place for the band - Smith is a genuinely likeable frontman easily capable of whipping up a crowd of this size. The band relate to their audience well, and it would be a shame to see this relationship diluted in bigger arenas. “The Park” always a deliver a passionate performance and Saturday night’s tour finale was no exception.