[ The Maccabees ]
The Maccabees
Third Day Rally
@ The Orpheum - Tampa, FL
Tuesday September 19, 2000.
Review and photos by Jeffrey Howard.
I had been looking forward all week to seeing The Maccabees, even if it meant driving to Tampa. I hadn't seen them in over a year. Their new songs on their websites are just gorgeous and teased me to the point where I could not miss. Everything was hinging if someone could go with me to help with expenses. Michelle came through. She's awesome. That was great because Michelle was just the right person to go with. I think she's great to be around. We got to Tampa and wandered Ybor Citys clothing store before the Friday night crowd arrived before the show.
We got back to The Orpheum, where the show was being held. It was the first time I had been to this venue. I was surprised it was pretty small for the shows they have there. It's a big open area with a small elevated stage, with PA speakers on the floor on each side of the stage. The PA speakers were a bit obtrusive to viewing from the sides.
The first band that played was Thinking Day Rally. I think they are from Tampa. I enjoyed their piano rock style show. An easy comparison would be Ben Folds Five. They weren't bad at all. The drummer was rockin'. I didn't even get a glimpse of the piano player cos of those PA speakers.
The Maccabees came on next and played amazingly. All new songs, too. How nice. Matt sang lead on a couple. I'm sure die hard fans want Susie on lead all the time but Matt fits in just fine. I was dying to hear "Home Front", one of the demos they added to their mp3 webpage. I am so in love with this song. I heard it for the first time last week. In the middle of the set Susie retrieved an acoustic guitar from the side of the stage and strummed the opening chords. It made me happy. It was the most quiet/acoustic song they did. If you have 'Songs From The Weakest Link' and haven't heard anything from them since I'll tell you the newer material are more rocking (like Pohgoh). From "Home Front" they went straight into "The Wait". I love that one, too. Did you know Susie and Keith (the drummer) were wed in August? How cute! This show turned out to be a kinda record release show for their split EP with Call It In The Air. They had gotten it in the mail that very day. I didn't have enough cash with me to get it but Michelle did.
We had to leave right after to get back home to Orlando in a reasonable hour so we missed A-Set. I hope I wouldn't like them cos this was the second time this year I missed them. We listened to then new Maccabees CD on the way home. It's got six songs. It's lovely.
Thank you Maccabees!
Writing and Photographs ©
2000 by Jeffrey Howard.
Please don't display them elsewhere.