Back to News
Maxïmo Park review – Newcastle band play the hell out of their jaggy and angsty debut album
Music•February 8, 2026 at 12:14 PMNational

Maxïmo Park review – Newcastle band play the hell out of their jaggy and angsty debut album

By Peter Ross•The Guardian Music

O2 Academy, GlasgowPaul Smith and the band play tracks old and new with a dash of humour and the sort of chops you develop from years on the roadTrilby set to rakish and his suit truss tight, Paul Smith leaps from the drum riser with a scissor kick and, just for a moment, as the singer hangs in the air, it could be the cover of A Certain Trigger – the album being celebrated in Glasgow tonight.Maxïmo Park’s debut is 21 years old. Has it come of age? Not exactly. It sounds very much of its time, all jaggy riff and angsty yelp. Yet the Newcastle band play the hell out of these songs. They sound better now than back then. Continue reading...

O2 Academy, Glasgow
Paul Smith and the band play tracks old and new with a dash of humour and the sort of chops you develop from years on the road

Trilby set to rakish and his suit truss tight, Paul Smith leaps from the drum riser with a scissor kick and, just for a moment, as the singer hangs in the air, it could be the cover of A Certain Trigger – the album being celebrated in Glasgow tonight.

Maxïmo Park’s debut is 21 years old. Has it come of age? Not exactly. It sounds very much of its time, all jaggy riff and angsty yelp. Yet the Newcastle band play the hell out of these songs. They sound better now than back then.

Continue reading...

Related News

Duran Duran drummer Roger Taylor leaves band due to tinnitus
UK NewsEntertainmentMusicMusic News

Duran Duran drummer Roger Taylor leaves band due to tinnitus

‘I must now listen to my body and my doctors’, says Taylor, who was one of the earliest members of the new wave hit-make...

The Guardian Music5 hours ago
‘Joni Mitchell sang Both Sides, Now over the phone to me’: folk music legend Judy Collins on her 87 remarkable years
EntertainmentMusicMusic News

‘Joni Mitchell sang Both Sides, Now over the phone to me’: folk music legend Judy Collins on her 87 remarkable years

As she continues her farewell tour, the US singer-songwriter answers your questions on romance with Stephen Stills, frie...

The Guardian Music8 hours ago
Blackhaine: Saints in the Wethouse review | Alexis Petridis's album of the week
EntertainmentMusicMusic News

Blackhaine: Saints in the Wethouse review | Alexis Petridis's album of the week

(XL Recordings)His Playboi Carti collabs may have dragged Tom Heyes out of the underground, but this bracing debut remai...

The Guardian Music10 hours ago
The bar singer, the K-pop veteran and the ‘railway track diva’: meet three Eurovision Asia 2026 hopefuls
EntertainmentMusicMusic News

The bar singer, the K-pop veteran and the ‘railway track diva’: meet three Eurovision Asia 2026 hopefuls

For some, it’s their first big break, for others it’s a chance to secure their fame. But for all 11 acts, it’s an opport...

The Guardian Music22 hours ago
‘Young, Black and female in Brixton is hard’: ​from football to Top Boy and wordplay, the inspiring journey of UK rapper Cristale
EntertainmentMusicMusic News

‘Young, Black and female in Brixton is hard’: ​from football to Top Boy and wordplay, the inspiring journey of UK rapper Cristale

Crystal Palace FC or Oxbridge beckoned, but the multitalented MC kept forging her way towards music. She explains how sh...

The Guardian Music1 day ago
‘My partners would all tell you I was a nut job’: Jane Wiedlin on the Go-Go’s, fame and the freedom of sex dungeons
EntertainmentMusicMusic News

‘My partners would all tell you I was a nut job’: Jane Wiedlin on the Go-Go’s, fame and the freedom of sex dungeons

As she releases a brutally honest memoir, the new wave icon opens up about industry sexism, living with bipolar disorder...

The Guardian Music1 day ago

More From These Categories

No other articles in this category yet.