05.02.07

It’s not for the cock, it’s for the “difficult second album”

Posted in Gigs, Princess at 5:07 pm by Princess

Maximo Park and Art Brut are not just here tonight to entertain the indie loving hordes of Nottingham they are also here to promote their new albums and with bands up and down the country being struck by the curse of the second album review (see Bloc Party and Kaiser Chiefs) both know that they’ve got a hard sell ahead of them. Thankfully they are armed with two of the most charismatic front men in the country at the moment.

Art Brut make a less than grand entrance with the majority of the sell out crowd barely noticing Mr. Argos and Co. taking to the stage. The opener does little to warm up the audience but this is due to a poor choice of song more than anything else. After a lukewarm reaction Eddie introduces “I will survive” a track from their new album (sadly not a cover). As he displays his charming lyric writing talent telling us “life’s what you make it and mine’s just a mess” we all start to wonder if Art Brut have managed to save themselves from obscurity by making an album nobody thought they either could or would and we start to pay attention. As the set goes on Eddie feeds more and more upon the crowd’s reaction strutting up and down the stage like a young Jarvis Cocker at one point even using his microphone wire as a skipping rope which is instantly met with deafening cheers from the suitably won over audience.

The set is brought to a close with a mix of two of the highlights from 2005’s “Bang Bang Rock ‘n Roll”, “Good Weekend” and “Formed a Band”. By the end of this extended treat it’s almost impossible to tell who’s having more fun, the now suitably warmed up audience or the five breathless enthusiasts on stage. Just before they leave Eddie Argos pleads with everyone in the room to go home and form bands telling us, “look how much fun we’re having and we’re not even pissed yet.” This is met by the final cheer of the night for Art Brut and we all go back to waiting for Maximo Park. As the masses all head to the bar for a swift one in between sets the feeling among us seems to be unanimous, how the fuck did they pull that off?

Before anyone has a chance to come up with an answer we are distracted by the huge lights being placed around the stage. This coupled with Art Brut’s surprisingly good set sends anticipation soaring throughout rock-city and the band make an entrance that doesn’t disappoint. Each member arrives one after the other ending of course with the trilby topped Paul Smith and as the opening chords to anthem “Graffiti” pound through the speakers the crowd erupts never ceasing to match Paul word for word for the rest of the gig.

After this favorite from 2005’s Mercury nominated “A Certain Trigger” the band allow new album “Our Earthly Pleasures” to come alive starting with the brilliant “Girls who Play Guitars”. It’s fair to say that this new album was met with lukewarm reactions from some critics but the ferocity with which it is sung into the heaving crowd gives each song a new lease of life. You can almost feel what Paul Smith was going through when it was written just from his piercing facial expressions. Despite his intense performances Paul is nothing but charming in between songs even jokingly trying to end local rift between Nottingham and Derby telling the audience, “come on guys, I want to get my hands on a Nobel peace prize.”

It has to be said that the real highlight from the set comes near the end with “Apply Some Pressure” where the crowd almost manage to deafen out the vocals with their own singing. The room is worked perfectly as Paul dashes from side to side thrusting his arms out to the more than receptive audience and pulling shapes that can only be compared to the late Freddie Mercury, a self confessed influence of the front man. By the end of the song the band is met by an unrelenting chant of “Maximo! Maximo!” and the they look sincerely overwhelmed. The set is ended by two of their more aggressive tracks from their two albums, the fantastic “Unshockable” and brilliant “Limassol”. By the end of the night every member of Maximo Park have done more than enough to reignite everyone’s faith in one of the best live bands Britain has.

Maximo Park are still touring the UK and “Our Earthly Pleasures” is available now on Warp Records.

Art Brut are also still on tour with Maximo park and will be on their own headline jaunt in the summer to coincide with their new album release.

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