Music Critic Vicky Wilson reviews Maxïmo Park’s live gig at the Birmingham O2 Institute on the 30th September, calling it ‘a powerful and reminiscent performance’
Maxïmo Park kicked off their ‘Singular Tour’ in Birmingham last night with a powerful and reminiscent performance of some of their greatest hits. The band have been curating eclectic rock music for over 20 years; this show brought a rare opportunity to rewind through their discography and celebrate their fan-favourite hits. From hyperbolic facial expressions to extravagant dance moves, lead singer Paul Smith brought a dynamic energy to the stage, that made it feel almost like a farewell tour. Hopefully, this is not the case.
Maxïmo Park recently released new anthems ‘Great Art’ and ‘Merging into You’, which are a promising sign that new music, perhaps a new album, and another tour are on the horizon. Ultimately it was clear throughout the set, how much passion and nostalgia the band felt for the singles which put them on the music map and kept them there.
This show brought a rare opportunity to rewind through their discography and celebrate their fan-favourite hits
To the iconic riff of 2021 hit ‘All of Me’, Maxïmo Park took to the stage, albeit rather late. Nevertheless, the audience quickly fired up and danced along to the climatic melody. As always, lead singer Paul Smith emerged in his classic black fedora. His black and white outfit seemed to emulate a mime artist as he acted out the lyrics to each song, with animated facial expressions. As the band launched into ‘The Coast is Changing’ and ‘Baby Sleeps’, Smith shocked us with his vivacity and flexibility, twirling the microphone stand above his head and leaping into the air, casting dramatic silhouettes as the lights shifted.
Over on the keyboard, Jemma Freese embellished the set with pulsating synthesised riffs. Meanwhile, Tom English and Duncan Lloyd on the drums and guitar respectively, maintained the classic Maxïmo rock sound. Rather than simply bunging the hits with the most listens on Spotify into a set, it was clear that Maxïmo Park had carefully curated the setlist which encompassed crowd pleasing and strikingly relevant songs.
I was even lucky enough to grab a setlist at the end to stick on my fridge. From ‘Going Missing’, one of Maximo’s first songs, which was produced in the drummer and guitarist’s shared house, to ‘Great Art’ which was released in March, the band performed distinctive hits from across the decades. Notably, songs such as ‘The National Health’, carry a surprising resonance to the current day and the COVID-19 pandemic, despite being written in 2012. ‘Baby Sleep’, a personal favourite of mine, meanwhile, comically subverts classic love song lyrics by referring to a literal baby.
A few weeks ago, Maximo Park posted a poll on their Instagram, asking fans to request the songs that they hoped to hear at their local gig. The band briefly stepped away from their top singles to perform ‘Karaoke Plays’, a 2007 hit which members of the Birmingham audience, who loudly applauded the rendition, voted for. Another outlier Maximo performed was ‘Leave this Island’, a popular but more mellow and gentle tune.
…it was clear that Maxïmo Park had carefully curated the setlist which encompassed crowd pleasing and strikingly relevant songs
Considering the awful weather in Brum last night, which led to disruption on public transport, the turnout and enthusiasm of the audience at Maximo’s gig was impressive. Audience members from an array of different ages celebrated and reminisced together. An enthusiastic father and son superfan duo who came in matching Maximo merchandise represented the inter-generational resonance of Maximo Park’s discography. Comically, the weather-related lines in ‘Questing not Coasting’ reflected the weather outside impeccably; through the lyrics Paul thanked the audience for ‘coming by on such a dreadful night’.
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