Photo Credit: Jess Plunkett

Bursting on to the UK indie scene back in 2005 with their debut album ‘A Certain Trigger‘, Newcastle veterans Maxïmo Park enter 2026 with a two decade celebration of the record, which charted at #1 in the UK Independent Album Charts twenty years ago, as well as being nominated for the Mercury Prize award that same year.

Known for the intense, high energy performances wherever they go, the band made the short journey down the A19 to York for an intimate sold out warm-up show ahead of their extensive UK tour. For a Monday night, the crowd were out in full force. After selling the show out in minutes, every ticket holder made sure they were down ahead of time. One by one, the band made their way on to the compact stage, with a roaring capacity crowd awaiting a trip down memory lane. The moment Paul Smith appeared last, it was showtime.

Opening with ‘Signal and Sign‘, just as the album does, the audience were going all in from the start. As further tracks from ‘A Certain Trigger‘ followed, those being ‘Graffiti‘ and ‘Postcard of a Painting‘, it was quickly made clear by Smith that the album would not be played in its entirety, but an overall celebration of the last twenty years, with their debut being the main focus of course. ‘Our Velocity‘ and ‘Leave this Island‘ were the first tracks from their later records to feature, and a pleasant surprise to many that this felt like more of a career spanning set at this early stage. Regardless, the crowd were still as entertained as they always are for Maxïmo Park.

Performing ‘A19′ for the first time in almost ten years, the track was more relevant than ever considering it connects the evenings show to the bands’ hometown. ‘Now I’m All Over the Shop‘, which features on ‘A Certain Trigger‘ also, got its first run out in ten years, where the band celebrated the first decade of the record. A real rare treat for the York crowd, in which they were more than pleased with as each song was loudly applauded. Smith joked about their current age and that he would be getting ready for bed at this point, but still had lots of energy to delivery.

Leaping as high as he could, with legs spread wide, Smith showed no sign of age or fatigue. With just the one song from their latest record ‘Stream of Life‘, it wasn’t long until the debut material came back into effect. As ‘Limassol‘ and ‘Kiss You Better‘ set up the final song of the set (for now), it was of course ‘Apply Some Pressure‘. The energy in the room soon picked up as the first note hit, and served a fantastic conclusion for the band to exit the stage for a brief breather ahead of the encore.

Returning to the stage for three more songs, there was still material from ‘A Certain Trigger‘ to feature. Kicking things back off with ‘Acrobat‘, another song that hasn’t featured for ten years, followed up by ‘Books from Boxes‘ before ending the night with ‘Going Missing‘ to truly conclude the bands’ first performance in the city since 2012 in spectacular fashion.