 | | Maximo Park (pic: Shirlaine Forrest) |
Although it is negligible that live, Ross Noble manages to be as incredibly angry and active as Mr Smith , who certainly does take his responsibilities as a front man seriously, gesticulating during first song Graffiti with such vigour and bile you can’t help wondering if he’s gotten the definition of ‘gig’ mixed up with ‘mass rally’. And vigour is indeed the name of the game here. Maximo Park have stated in the music press that they ‘want to lead pop in a different direction’ and tonight they are certainly succeeding - if only because their blistering live performance is leading to the Ritz’s legendary springy dancefloor bouncing the assembled audience in a variety of different directions themselves. Old favourites such as Now I’m All Over The Shop and Apply Some Pressure are spat out as much as sung, and lead to numerous young girls hurling themselves forward with the kind of speed which makes recent single Our Velocity sound amusingly ironic.  | | Maximo Park (pic: Shirlaine Forrest) |
What Maximo Park do - creating short sharp bursts of frenetic pop - they do well, and you can see just why they’re as popular as they are. And tonight, certainly they present themselves to the North West as a bunch of talented young men at the height of their powers. Unfortunately, despite all of their North Eastern promise, that’s just what it is. Promise. Will Maximo Park still be doing gigs the like of tonight in five years’ time? Very unlikely. But for the moment, if you fancy falling in lust with a Ross Noble lookalike hurling himself around at 100 miles per hour whilst yelping to kingdom come, you’ve found the right band. | 
