By Laura Dean
When the legendary Leeds intimate gig venue, Cockpit, announced its closure last month, I was in bits over the gigs I had booked over the next few months – surely nothing could compare?! ‘The Maine’ was moved to ‘Key Club’, and I’m pretty sure all ticket holders went through the “what the hell is Key Club?” crisis. So on Sunday night I took myself to the mysterious Key Club for the first time, to see the Maine, and it is an extraordinary little venue. The sound was fantastic, and the stage is that small and low, the band were practically in the crowd, it took the words ‘intimate show’ to a new level. Really though Key Club, could you not have mopped the floor? Cockpit lovers will have fine memories of its sticky floor, and maybe Key Club didn’t want those memories forgotten. Lead singer John also didn’t appear to want Cockpit memories forgotten, as he actively changed a lyric at one point during the set to include a reference to it.
So, on to the gig! The Maine stormed the stage, with John wearing a t-shirt promoting support band ‘Lydia’, whilst lead guitarist Jared wore one supporting support act ‘Nick Santino’ – all three acts are part of record label ‘8123’, hence ‘the 8123 tour’. The band opened with crowd favourite ‘Take What You Can Carry’ from their latest album ‘Forever Halloween’, before diving in to a selection of older tracks. The amount of older tracks surprised me, since the band have recently released a deluxe edition of ‘Forever Halloween, and have also been promoting the departure of the album; ‘Farewell, Forever Halloween’. Though the band played ‘Run’, ‘Love & Drugs’, ‘Take What you Can Carry’, and ‘F**ked up Kids’ from the album.
Returning to the intimacy of the gig, during one track John actively stopped singing, leaving the band to play in the background, whilst he thanked the fans for their support over the years, but also pleaded with them to put their phones and cameras away, and enjoy the moment they were in. John went on to tell fans “if you really want to see pictures of us, you can go on our Instagram or our Facebook”. The crowd instantly obeyed John’s wishes and all cameras disappeared from the crowd, resulting in a less vacant atmosphere. There’s nothing more annoying at a gig than everyone with their phones out, or even worse these days, iPads.
The combination of John’s relaxed and distant vocals, and somewhat of a guitar alliance, had the band sounding better than ever, as they included tracks from their entire discography so far in the set list. The band ended with ‘We’ll All Be’, which included both support acts hopping aboard the stage to join in. The UK tour is still ongoing and I’d highly recommend you get a ticket if you can. Once the tour is over, the band are heading back to the States to record their new album, so there’s a definite ‘To Be Continued’, and with both the ‘Forever Halloween’ album, and ‘the 8123 tour’ highlighting the journey from their pop/rock beginnings, to fully fledged alternative rock, it’s hard to know what’s in store for us!
By Laura Dean – @modestlaura
