GIG REVIEW: Maximo Park + Art Brut @ O2 City Hall, Newcastle, Saturday 21 February 2026
As far as national musical treasures go, the North East has thrown up a number over the years: The Animals, Bryan Ferry, Sting, Mark Knopfler, Brian Johnson and Dave Stewart to name just a few.
To that list I think you can add indie-rock band Maximo Park, who have been mainstays of the region’s music scene for more than 25 years now.
Although they’ve had a couple of personnel changes, the core trio of founding guitarist Duncan Lloyd and drummer Tom English and frontman Paul Smith remain intact, and they remain an inventive band with a devoted fanbase.
They now have eight studio albums to their name, most recently 2024’s Stream Of Life (reviewed here), but it’s their debut album, 2005’s A Certain Trigger, we’re here to celebrate tonight.
Released in May 2005, it turns 21 this year (though this tour confusingly celebrates its 20th anniversary). Widely acknowledged as a classic, it sold over 300,000 copies and was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize.
Tonight is all about celebrating the album, with a few other greatest hits thrown in. They resist the temptation to play it front to back, tossing in tasty morsels from their storied back catalogue in a perfectly-paced set.
First, however, proceedings are opened by another indie-rock outfit notable for their longevity, Art Brut. They’re of similar vintage to Maximo, releasing their debut album, Bang Bang Rock & Roll, the same month as A Certain Trigger, and the bands were tourmates back in the day.
But where Maximo went on to headline arenas and festivals, the London art-rockers – perhaps unluckily – remained very much a cult concern, with their highest-charting single not quite making the Top 40, and their quirky albums not even bothering the Top 100.
That’s a little unlucky, as they were always fun, with irrepressible frontman Eddie Argos something of an outlier at the time, with his sprechgesang-style vocals and wry lyrics setting them apart from what became disparagingly known as indie landfill, but is now fashionable again after a rebrand as indie-sleaze.
Most of tonight’s set comes from their first couple of albums, and the five-piece quickly get the crowd onside with songs like Formed A Band, Emily Kane and My Little Brother (“he’s 45 now,” quips Argos).
The engaging frontman seems sanguine enough about missing out on major chart success – “being a cult band means you’re good enough to survive, but not good enough to make any money out of it”, he muses. It’s a cruel old business, but one that’s certainly better for having the likes of Art Brut in it.
On then to the main event, and anticipation levels are through the roof by the time the lights go down to signal the start of this sold-out show, the first of two nights in the band’s home town which round off a two-week tour.
Lloyd, English, bassist Andrew Lowther and keyboardist Jemma Freese take their places before Smith, in signature sharp suit and trademark bowler hat, bounds onstage like a man possessed, and the show explodes into life.
Signal And Sign, the opening track from A Certain Trigger, is first, and the crowd go wild, singing along with every word. It’s one of half a dozen songs on the album which could easily have been a single, but wasn’t, but it’s no less loved than those which were.
For the next 75 minutes the band dip in and out of the album, with all but one of its 13 tracks (ironically, Once, A Glimpse, which gives it its title) getting a very welcome airing.
Graffiti, one of their big songs, is second up, followed in close order by Postcard Of A Painting, by which time Smith has shed his ruby red suit jacket so he can leap around the stage more freely. Standing atop the illuminated onstage stairs, he looks positively messianic against the lush red draped backdrop.
Maximo’s biggest hit Our Velocity (from 2007’s Our Earthly Pleasures, their highest-charting album) lifts excitement levels to a new pitch, before Leave This Island (from 2014’s Too Much Information) calms things down a little.
That doesn’t last, as The Coast Is Always Changing, The Night I Lost My Head, Now I’m All Over the Shop and early b-side (remember those, pop pickers?) A19 ramping things up again.
Nuggets from other albums dropped into the set include Favourite Songs from the aforementioned Stream Of Life, The National Health from their angry 2012 release of the same name and a stunning Versions Of You from 2021’s Nature Always Wins.
For the closing run it’s back to A Certain Trigger, with a wonderful Kiss You Better, a frantic Limassol and fan favourite Apply Some Pressure taking us to the end of the show.
Except everybody knows we’re not quite done yet. To chants of “Maximo, Maximo” our heroes re-emerge from the wings to play a three-song encore which reaches its climax with perhaps their best-loved song, Going Missing, which confirms their status as national treasures.
After the band take their bow, Smith lingers a little longer than the rest, enjoying a few moments to savour the cheers, the applause and broad smiles of every one here.
Ever humble, he thanks them profusely for coming, and promises to see them again soon. It’s been so good that they must do it all again – tonight in fact, when their devoted fans can lose their heads all over again.
