The Maccabees made their long-awaited live return last night (June 20) with an intimate charity gig in London. Check out photos, footage, the setlist and more below.
The returning indie band – who split in 2017 and announced their return last year for an All Points East headline set – gave their first public performance in eight years at the 500-capacity The Dome in Tufnell Park. It marked the first of a series of warm-up gigs across Europe ahead of their appearance at Glastonbury next weekend.
Opening the set with ‘Latchmere’ and ‘Lego’, both taken from their 2007 debut album ‘Colour It In’, guitarist Felix White re-introduced the band to the crowd by saying: “We’re the fucking Maccabees!” Throughout the set, White hyped up the audience, telling them to “fucking sing it loud” during ‘Precious Time’ and instructing them to “give it up” for his bandmates drummer Sam Doyle, bassist Rupert Jarvis, guitarist Hugo White and frontman Orlando Weeks at various points in the set.
“By buying this ticket, you’re supporting the MS Society and they’re getting closer to stopping MS [multiple sclerosis],” White told the crowd before ‘Can You Give It’. Proceeds from the gig went to the charity mentioned by White and its Stop MS Appeal, which aims to raise £100,000,000 to fund vital research into the disease. The band have often supported the charity during their career and were named ambassadors for the organisation in 2016. You can donate to the Stop MS Appeal here.
The Maccabees’ setlist pulled from across their four-album back catalogue and saw them air the likes of the title track from their second album ‘Wall Of Arms’, and ‘Spit It Out’ and ‘Silence’ from 2015’s final LP ‘Marks To Prove It’. After the latter, which saw Hugo White take on lead vocal duties, the crowd was united in a chant of “Hugo! Hugo!”
The main set concluded with versions of ‘Toothpaste Kisses’ and ‘Something Like Happiness’, Weeks adding a new verse to the former, singing: “You’re no longer mine, but this song never changed with time.”
“We love you, thank you so much,” White told the crowd after the band returned for a three-song encore that included ‘Feel To Follow’, ‘Love You Better’ and ‘Pelican’. Before closing the set with the final song, he instructed the audience once again: “If you know it, fucking sing it.”
The Maccabees played:
‘Latchmere’
‘Lego’
‘X-Ray’
‘Wall Of Arms’
‘Kamakura’
‘First Love’
‘Precious Time’
‘Can You Give It’
‘Spit It Out’
‘Silence’
‘Marks To Prove It’
‘No Kind Words’
‘Grew Up At Midnight’
‘Toothpaste Kisses’
‘Something Like Happiness’
‘Feel To Follow’
‘Love You Better’
‘Pelican’
The band have curated the full line-up for their All Points East gig, booking the likes of Bombay Bicycle Club, The Cribs, Dry Cleaning, Nilüfer Yanya, The Murder Capital, Divorce and Prima Queen to appear alongside them. Find any remaining tickets here.
As preparations got underway for their big reunion, The Maccabees invited NME into their rehearsal space in January, where guitarist Felix White told us it felt as if “no time had passed” since they last played together in 2017.
“It’s so strange. In the chunk [of time] from the last show, you could conceive of The Maccabees as a different existence, but as soon as we started playing, it was as if we hadn’t stopped,” he said.
The band also responded to rumours that new music could be on the horizon, with White telling NME: “The plan is to do [All Points East] and see how much we love it.” Drummer Sam Doyle jokingly added: “We might hate each other by August.”
The Maccabees will continue their journey to their All Points East headline set with a series of shows across Europe and their Glastonbury performance headlining The Park stage on Sunday (June 29). In August, they will play a handful of underplay gigs across the UK. Visit here for tickets and more information.
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