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Maximo Park remain a curiously cultish entity. The Geordie band have
produced one of the freshest British punk albums of the last god knows
how
many years (A Certain Trigger), their songs are stuffed with
razor-sharp
riffs, quick wits and a nifty bit of keyboard, and all of them
life-affirming, rock 'n' roll romps. Yet many people have never
heard
of them, and they still play unheard of venues, the size of the average
school hall. This is a crying shame.
Which is not to say that The Rocket is an unattractive, or
particularly
obscure venue, being as it is, London Metropolitan University's
theatre, and
not more than 500 metres from the more famous Highbury Garage. The
trouble
with Rocket is the sound quality.
This became abundantly obvious
as the
support band, The Research, mumbled their way through a half hour set,
the
less said of which the better. Only the hardcore of fans up at the
front
were in on the secret. I have never seen so many people sat down at a
gig
before. Yeah, Yeah was the highlight of a distinctly below-par support
set.
This only made Maximo Park's triumphant entrance all the sweeter
though.
The band, all clad in black, entered to raucous cheer and before you
could
say "Gang Of Four," kicked off their electric performance.
Opening
with Limassol, and then straight into album favourite, the
pogo-friendly,
Postcard Of A Painting. Paul Smith's reputation as the consummate
frontman was
immediately apparent: robotic dancing, anecdotes about falling off
lamp posts, decent singing. What more could you want?
Well a slightly better PA system would have been nice, as Smith's
vocals
were frequently lost beneath Duncan Lloyd's caustic guitar and the
rollicking bass drum of Tom English. Whilst this was acceptable during
the
well known material, like the marvellous Graffiti, I Want You To Stay,
Going
Missing, A Certain Trigger and the magnificent riot of a set closer,
Apply
Some Pressure, during new and lesser known tunes like Kiss You
Better
and A19, the crowd atmosphere dropped off the scale - we just couldn't hear
the
words.
Overall though, this was a live-wire of a performance from one of
the
best up-and-coming bands around. Hopefully we'll get to see them with
better
support and in a better venue in the future. But this will only happen
if
they finally gain the recognition and popularity they deserve by
breaking
into the mainstream consciousness. Maybe they should follow The
Futureheads'
lead and do a Kate Bush cover...
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