Ramblings of a Redhead Music Snob

7/15/07

Fran Healy made 4 years definitely worth waiting for. With music filling The Fillmore (aka Irving Plaza) from Rocky, Fran runs from the back of the venue to the front in a boxer’s robe with boxing gloves. The fight is on. He gets to the stage and with arms widely extended stands in front of us, as the crowd gets into a frenzy. The show opens up with the single from their new album “Selfish Jean”, which is catchy and gets the crowd into a groove.

Fran gets bonus points for noticing all the people in the front who were beyond hot with lack of AC and no fans, and started throwing out water bottles throughout the show so no one would lose their spot. It was also great to see Andy jump in the crowd and jam out on his guitar!

Their set list is nearly a best of with songs from all of the albums. Fran was very chatty with the crowd and promised an even longer set than the prior night as a fan posted on the message board that they were disappointed that Travis had only played for an hour and a half. So we got a bit longer! Cant complain.

Here is a set list from the show:

Selfish Jean
Eyes Wide Open
Writing to Reach You
Love Will Come Through
As You Are
Pipe Dreams
Reoffender
Big Chair
My Eyes
Side
Driftwood
Good Feeling
Closer
Sing
Battleships
All I want to do is Rock
Turn

Flowers in the Window
Selfish Jean (again!)
Indefinately
Humpty Dumpty Love Song
Why does it always rain on me

Fran’s voice is sounding as great as always. It was nice to hear that “My Eyes” was written when he learned he would be a papa 🙂  The reprise of “Selfish Jean” was a real highligh as Dmitri from the Jon Stewart show made an appearance and helped on the song performing a video that he made for the song. It consisted of him taking off shirt upon shirt and then towards the end stuffing his face with a plate full of cookies. If you listen to the words it all goes together. Klaus, from Sweden, was also a great addition for Travis on the keyboard. He was quite good. I have loads of pics and lots of great video. 🙂

And to end the set, Travis performed “Why Does It Always Rain On me?”  This was great as Fran stopped the song half way through to talk to the audience insisting that we all pogo at once together as high as we could. As the song crescendos you could feel the crowd all getting into it, and by the time the chorus came about we were all jumping in unison. And what a way to go out!

7/12/07

 Thursday night my friend from DC came up to see Maximo Park. I hadnt seen them since one of the first times they had come to the States so it was a real treat to see them again. Paul and company started off the set with “Graffiti” which got the crowd really going. The crowd, which was mostly British, were so excited to see them, with lots of pogoing, hands flying in the air and dancing. Paul was all over the place on stage, with his trade-mark jump that is beyond high. Lucas, on keyboards, was dancing all over the place behind his keys and on a few songs was more prominently on the stage dancing.

The set consisted of most of their fast-paced, catchy pop songs interlaced with some of their slower songs, which were greatly needed just to catch a breath. It was an excellent show and I just wish I could have made it to their show in Toronto. Heres to next time. Below is the set list along with a video just to see the intensity of the show. Please note: sound quality sucks!

‘Graffiti’
‘A Fortnight’s Time’
‘Now I’m All Over The Shop’
‘Our Velocity’
‘Parisian Skies’
‘The Coast Is Always Changing’
‘Girls Who Play Guitars’
‘I Want You To Stay’
‘Karaoke Plays’
‘Books From Boxes’
‘By The Monument’
‘Apply Some Pressure’
‘Your Urge’
‘The Unshockable’
‘Going Missing’
‘Nosebleed’
‘Limassol’