Suede, Rock City, Nottingham

 

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Maxïmo Park, Rock City, Nottingham

 Supported by Art Brut

Well, look who it is. Art Brut again. They are clearly still stalking me, not that I mind, and it has actually been five years since I last saw them here, supporting The Subways, and it was way back in 2007 when they last took the stage here with Maximo Park. We have had numerous collisions in other venues in between, some of which have even been deliberate. 

The songs, as always, remain largely the same and the stories between them largely the same with Eddie Argos still telling us all about his brother but they remain just as entertaining as they are odd. 

Something else that remains largely the same is Maximo Park’s Paul Smith, the man never ages and his enthusiasm never dims. Tonight, he and his band, bring us a huge 20th birthday party for ‘A Certain Trigger’, their debut album. 

 

They treat us to 12 of the 13 songs on the album starting with ‘Signal & Sign’ and ending of course with ‘Apply Some Pressure’ via their debut single 'The Coast Is Always Changing' and all the others with a couple held back for the encore. 

We don’t get the full album because 'Now I'm All Over the Shop' and 'Once, a Glimpse' are being rotated and tonight we get the latter. Instead, there’s the rare playing of ‘Fear of Falling’ which was the B-side to ‘Apply Some Pressure’ and which was apparently recorded at Confetti’s studio in Nottingham. Just one of the main anecdotes he gave us between songs. 

There is a disturbance four songs in during ‘My Velocity’ (yes, other albums are available) that sees two kicked out for over aggressive moshing. ‘My Velocity’ is, appropriately, a song about resistance. 

They leave us with the most exquisite of encores. It started with the magnificent ‘Acrobat’, all dramatic and spoken word, before ‘Books From Boxes’ and ‘Going Missing’ finished the night on a high. 

Only one person loved the night more than the crowd and that was Smith himself. Smith seemed genuinely surprised and touched by the reception the band got. So much so that I didn’t think he was ever going to leave the stage as he lingered long after his band mates had departed.