Maxïmo Park live!

Maxïmo Park
Double Door, Chicago
Monday, July 16, 2007

“This is turning into a comedy act,” Maxïmo Park singer Paul Smith noticed Monday at the Double Door. “We’re very serious — from England. The Northeast in fact.”

He has kind of nailed the perception his band bring with them. Borne of Sunderland, near Newcastle, Maxïmo, The Futureheads, and Field Music have gained a reputation for quirky, albeit angular and heady punk rock that doesn’t leave much room for obvious humor.

Smith could have been a candidate for the more chatty and boozing Art Brut, slinging lines like “Would you like to go on a date with me” and “I would love to see you in that dress/I hope that I will live to see you undressed.” Unfortunately the math in his band’s compositions can’t keep him from bringing up “times tables.” Things in the Northeast are more serious.

But the rigid lines of his band’s two albums opened a couple shirtbuttons for this concert, keeping things a little less by the bookie. When The Futureheads are in town, the stage always feels on the verge of multiple spontaneous combustions, so tightly wound are the members. But MP kept things loose, mainly by alternating their Ritalin binges with midtempo foottappers.

That said, it only took two songs to blast into the Devo-ish keyboards of “A Fortnight’s Time” and “Postcard Of A Painting”‘s happy feet. While Smith and his four bandmates generally kept their places on the crowded state — it was a minor miracle keyboardist Lukas Wooller never fell face-forward — which led to a lot of side-swaying while the audience boiled in front of them. “Our Velocity” built rushing choruses one on top of the next leading the coming-down “Parisian Skies” to wonder “How can I keep up the pace?”

The answer came in a consistent variation of speeds, whether speedballing through “Apply Some Pressure” and “Girls Who Play Guitars” or catching breath on the pounding “Karaoke Plays” and (relatively) bluesy “Books From Boxes.”

It certainly left them with enough air at the end for Smith to offer a salute to their conservation: Having ripped through “Going Missing,” he flashed a toothy grin, raised both arms, and flexed. They’re serious, after all.

— Steve Forstneger

Category: Live Reviews, Weekly