This is going to be the WILDEST article I've ever written. I will be describing this gig in vivid detail. This whole night felt like a dream. Anyway, before I get to my new friends and nearly getting kicked in the face by Paul Smith, let's talk about my history with Maximo Park. I started listening to Maximo Park when I was in 8th grade. I was sitting in my English class after a three hour round of statewide standardized testing, screwing around and playing agar.io on my school-issued laptop. I know. Real mature. Anyway, I was tired of listening to the same music all the time on Spotify. I listened exclusively to Phantom Planet for a month, and I was, sure as heck, over them. I came across my favorite playlist of all time, which shall be linked below: When I saw that photo of some tired, sweaty Strokes, I knew it was going to be good. And it was. My favorite song on that playlist was called Our Velocity. It was by a band called... Well, can you guess? Maximo Park, of course! I loved this song dearly. I didn't want to download it on iTunes immediately, for some reason. I decided to download it on my favorite illegal(?) video-downloading app, instead. That weekend, my mom, aunt, cousin, sister and I drove to Virginia for a gymnastics competition. I listened to Our Velocity for literally. The. Whole. Drive. I loved that song that much. Anyway, fast forward to July 8th, 2016. That was a rough day for me. I remember all of the small details, like hearing Blackout by Breathe Carolina in a Foot Locker and almost getting run over by a Zamboni in Sam's Club. If you read our 2016 recap, you know about that one. We went into Lambertville for dinner that night. The streets felt a bit lonely, but almost magical, in a way. If you've been to Lambertville, you'll know the vibes I'm talking about. It's a little town between the mountains and the river with almost no cell service, and surprisingly good Peruvian cuisine. I didn't eat anything that night. Or the night after. I passed out on the floor after showering and decided that was it. I was done. No amount of almond milk could save me. Fast forward to July 11th. My wifi was out, and we went to the mall to get our router checked out at the Apple Store. When we got home, I decided to lay on the ground in my backyard and watch the sunset. I was listening to Box Codax. I accidentally downloaded a few songs off iTunes from Hellabuster while my wifi was out. Whoops. There goes my cell. But anyway, after twenty minutes of quiet reminiscence on 8th grade and the year it had been, a song that will always be special to me came on shuffle. That song was Maximo Park's Midnight On The Hill. For all of July 2016, I listened to Maximo Park and Box Codax exclusively. If I had to credit two bands with saving my summer, it would be them. Now onto the concert. I arrived at The Foundry at 7:35, bought some merch, sent my dad off to the Dad Section, and secured a spot at barricade for myself. After Active Bird Community's set, before Maximo Park went on, I heard the people to my left discussing the setlist. I tried to get a photo, but it didn't work. We all just knew one thing: Graffiti wasn't on the setlist. We devised a plan to hear our beloved song. We tweeted (resisting the urge to say twote here) Maximo Park seven minutes before they went on. We tweeted everything from 'so excited to hear Graffiti tonight!' to 'Graffiti got me through some difficult teenage romances' (with a broken heart emoji) to 'Graffiti was my grandma's favorite song. She died last year.' Unfortunately, none of those were retweeted (retwote?) by the band before their set, so we thought our beloved Graffiti could only be accessed via YouTube videos from older gigs. Well, fortunately for my newfound squad of Maximo Park fans, that wasn't the case. During one of Paul Smith's frequent 'talky bits,' my new pal Helen quietly raised her hand. "Do you have a request?" Paul asked, not even into the mic. "Can you play Graffiti?" "You'll have to sing to me in French. That's the only answer to that." But after a quick look at his band mates, Paul proudly exclaimed: "Screw it. We'll do it! As they say in the United States, screw it! Screw it!" And then, they launched into Graffiti. All I remember is screaming "WE DID IT!!!!!" To Helen and John before becoming completely entranced by Paul's dance moves. So entranced I literally gifted him my nasty, sweaty, Pura Vida bracelet that I wore while laying in the grass in my backyard on July 11th, 2016. And then people started giving him shoes, to which someone behind me said: "welcome to Philly!" A few songs later, Paul told us he'd experienced Philadelphia in a half hour: everything from Philly cheesesteaks to sitting in a bar watching the Sixers win a game. That made me feel really proud of what I'd consider my home city. After the show, I actually got to meet Maximo Park and told Paul I had a chemistry exam first thing the next morning. "Whoa, what a weeknight for you then! Get home, study, cram those facts in your brain!" I laughed and thanked him and left the Foundry absolutely buzzing. To (most likely indirectly) quote my new friend John, "these guys played Glastonbury a few years back. It's crazy that they'd really have a gig this small. American fans definitely have an advantage for bands like this." (The photo below makes me feel SO SHORT. I'm 5'5, by the way.) So, yeah. In conclusion, I'd just like to thank Maximo Park for the amazing night that was November 29th, 2017. And as I sit in my kitchen with the remnants of a migraine and legs that are still sore from jumping around on Wednesday night, I could never be more thankful for all they've done for me.
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About The AuthorLiah is a high school senior who plays guitar and loves the color yellow. She doesn't post much, but when she does, it's awesome. We promise.
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