Maximo Park, The Maccabees - Brixton Academy, London - Saturday 13th October 2007

Back at Brixton for the second night in a row, for some more Maximo Park. This was an XFM Big Night Out, with the usual indie disco action after the gig, into the small hours. But, unlike previous XFM Big Night Out shows, this felt much more like a normal gig, which just happened to take place an hour later than normal. Everything was also made slightly surreal by England's Rugby World Cup semi final against France, which was happening during the first half of the gig.

The rugby meant that, when I got into the venue just after 9pm, it was practically empty, with hundreds of people in the pubs around the venue, watching the game. This meant that, when The Maccabees came on at 9:30 (still 20 minutes before the end of the game), the venue was still very sparsely populated indeed, and it was very easy to wander almost all the way to the front. Insufficient respect being shown to a brilliant support band! Being midway through a headlining tour, and then supporting somebody else in front of a half empty room, must also have been a weird experience for them.

The Maccabees' set was different to those that I'd seen earlier in the year (possibly because they were supporting rather than headlining), with a brief scare half way through, as traditional set closer Lego was played - I thought that was the end of the set, after less than 20 minutes! They played a new song which sounded pretty good, as well as the obvious X Ray, Latchmere, and finishing up with a brilliant version of First Love. By the end of the set, the room was at least a bit fuller, with victorious rugger buggers streaming in.

Talking of which, hearing 4,000 people singing Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, is not something I ever want to hear at a gig again! If you want to sing that, bugger off to a rugby match! There was a huge chorus of it before Maximo Park came on, and I bet most of the singers hadn't watched a rugby match since the last World Cup. There's nothing more annoying than bandwagon jumping sport fans (as we might find out again if England win the World Cup, or if Lewis Hamilton wins the Formula One title).

Anyway, when Maximo Park eventually came on stage at about half ten, the crowd was suitably drunk, which meant that the atmosphere was more mental than the previous night. They played exactly the same set as the previous show, and it was equally blistering – I enjoyed it more because I kind of knew what was coming. After having heard the new album live a few times now (and giving it some heavy rotation on my iPod), it is a more complex, intelligent, and interesting record than the debut, and some of this comes across when the songs are played live.

Songs like Books From Boxes, Nosebleed, and The Unshockable, have such well written lyrics and meanings, that they really come alive when you see them played at a gig, with all the emotion obvious to see on Paul Smith’s face. Some people say that the future of the music industry is for bands to give albums away, and make their money playing live – if that is true, Maximo Park should by rights be one of the big winners out of that – because you haven’t experienced the full glory of this band until you have seen them live.

This show finished at around midnight, and saw lots of people dash off to get the last Tubes home. In fact, 10 minutes after Maximo Park had left the stage, the venue was pretty empty again. A shame, because those that left missed a good disco, with the band playing some records in one of the rooms, and a good few minor indie celebrities to be spotted around the venue. A great night out with a great band, and I can’t wait until they play live in London again.