15-10-2009 Maximo Park

Supports: Pete and The Pirates; Venue: Paradiso, Amsterdam (The Netherlands)
By: Sabine van Gameren

Pete and The Pirates are a pop/rock band that is influenced by the dark side of the 70’s as it seems. When the band enters the stage, the circumstances are far from convenient. The sound is not exactly perfect, drums and bass come in very loud which makes it hard to follow the melody and the vocals. The first three songs do not really make an impression on me. The band is quite static which does not make the situation any better. Halfway their set there was a big change. The sound improved a bit, songs became more pleasant and there seems to be a bit of life in the whole performance. And actually, when the singer would make his notes a bit longer this band would make a jump forward as well. The last three songs played were the highlight of the performance when the band seem to be more comfortable here as well. Pete and The Pirates are now a band you follow on the grow, anticipating on the future, but Paradiso did not do a trick for them today. Maybe one size too big.

Maximo Park starts of which much more energy but just as bad sound. There was a lot of noise to hear, especially in the first part of their set. The singer jumps up on boxes, and is a stage presence just because of his mimics. He is able to put emotions from the song in his face, but as you are not familiar with their music it might be harder to read what is really behind those lyrics. There seem to be a dramatic, dark undertone in each and every song which the band does not always want you to see, but rather keeps this as their own part of the music. Keyboards make the songs melodic but some of the musicians see their role on the stage as a filling up as they tens to stay in the background. This brings more space for the singer to run around and play with the audience.
Maximo Park did a decent show here tonight, but the bad sound was a bit of a bummer.