THE MACCABEES | LIVE REVIEW

Y Plas, Cardiff University Students Union, Wed 13 July

Indie quintet The Maccabees visit Cardiff for the first time since 2012 for a warm-up gig, prior to headlining Latitude Festival at the weekend. Their debut album Colour was released in 2007 to critical acclaim and since then they’ve steadily paced their career. Over four albums and nine years, they haven’t lost what makes them The Maccabees.

With the cover of 2015 album Marks To Prove It as their backdrop, they fluidly move from soft indie rock to newer, heavier material. However, the sound feels too big for Y Plas (its quality was poor, especially towards the back of the venue; at times, the vocals were almost inaudible) and, despite the impressive lighting, the atmosphere feels lethargic and claustrophobic at times.

Maybe The Maccabees feel Y Plas is too small for them, maybe they’re saving their energy for festival antics at the weekend, but they begin to fly through their set as if ticking off a checklist. It takes some time for frontman Orlando Weeks  to liven up but when he does, the crowd bounce off his energy. They sway en masse to Somewhere To Go but, just as it felt we had woken up, the set comes to a finish, the band thanking the crowd and departing.

With Wales’ success at Euro 2016 still looming in the air, the crowd burst into a chorus of the Icelandic Thunder Clap to coax the band back on stage – and it works. The Maccabees return with a perfectly planned  encore: 2015 hit Marks To Prove It, the simply dainty Toothpaste Kisses and finishing with the anthemic Pelican.

These are smart guys and even smarter musicians who knew exactly what they were doing. Purposely keeping the energy levels subdued for the most part of their set meant that when they finally brought the energy up the tiniest of notches they instantaneously had the crowd in the palm of their hands and begging for more.

words DENIECE CUSACK photos EMMA LEWIS