Maximo Park, Long Blondes - Forum, London - Saturday 12th May 2007

Like The View a couple of weeks ago, Maximo Park also chose to end their UK tour with a choice of intimate London dates. Instead of playing somewhere horrible like Alexandra Palace, they decided to play three smaller dates, at the Astoria, Forum, and Shepherds Bush Empire. This is a very good trend, made even more interesting by the different support bands at each date - Art Brut, Electrelane, and the Long Blondes for this date.

Hopefully, more bands will start to do this, giving people the chance to see them in smaller venues, rather than huge arenas. It also means more chance to visit some of London's better venues, like the Forum and the Astoria, where the view is good, the atmosphere is one of friendliness and devotion to the bands, and the whole experience feels less manufactured - grubby carpets and all.

Going to a gig tonight was also a great way to avoid the awfulness of the Eurovision Song Contest - but then pulling your fingernails out would be preferable to that.

The Long Blondes support set was a good one. Last time I saw them, about a year ago, I was pretty nonplussed, but this time I though they were much more impressive. Of course, knowing a few more of their songs is very likely to have helped me enjoy them more, but I think they were actually better as well. There seemed to be much less pouting from the lead singer this time, so more concentrating on playing the songs. Their sound was rockier than I recall, and in a support slot, they concentrated mainly on the safe banker songs, rather than trying anything too risky. But, I really enjoyed their set - not sure if I would pay to see them headline, but I would definitely say they are well worth getting to a gig early to see.

Last time I saw Maximo Park, about a month ago, it was in a tiny venue that still contrived to provide a pretty bad view and sound. Despite only holding a couple of hundred people, and the band putting on a great show, the sound was muddy and muffled if you stood anywhere other than in front of the speakers. No such problem here, the band sounded ear-splittingly loud, and their sound was quite frankly fantastic.

Playing a similar set which opened up with Graffiti, followed by Girls Who Play Guitars, they were simply awesome from start to finish. I have never seen Maximo Park play live where their performance was anything other than completely brilliant, and I'm happy to say that this gig continued the trend. Listening to their albums is one thing, but it really does not prepare you for how amazingly good they are live. From start to finish, they played one great song after another, but the intensity, loudness, and brilliance of their live shows is overwhelming at times. A truly fantastic live band, not to be missed if you get the opportunity.