The Maccabees @ London Alexandra Palace 8/6/12

And there I was thinking that I'd already seen the band for the last time this year when they go and announce a one off gig at London's mammoth Alexandra Palace. It was no doubt going to be a defining moment in the bands career, and was I going to miss it? Of course not. Running late (due to getting extremely lost in London) I quite honestly didn't think I would make it to the palace before doors opened but just as I left my hotel I got a phone call from a friend telling me that I was now on the VIP guest list which meant I would no longer have to queue and that I would have access to the intimate after show party after the gig. Frankly, I couldn't believe my luck.

      Making the huge pilgrimage up the hill amongst the hundreds of other gig-goers, the buzz and excitement was already growing for what we were all about to experience in the ginormous building up ahead.  Inside I met up with my friends in the holding court and it wasn't long until they open the giant double doors into the main room and everybody flooded in rushing to get to the front. Before long the first support act of the night Baxter Dury made his entrance. Having never heard of him before I wasn't sure what to expect, but his music recalled early Blur and he was enjoyable enough. British Sea Power were up next, the highlight for me being 'Waving Flags' with an epic extended outro that included a guy in a bear suit dancing on stage and culminated in the lead singer throwing up his guitar and flooring himself whilst catching it. All good. And before I knew it it was time for the boys themselves.

       The 10,000 capacity venue behind me was now full and I couldn't help but feel almost somewhat emotional that the band I'd followed for so long had made it to this point and that I was there to witness it. Backed by a ginormous screen that pictured their every move, the band took their place on the stage, each member illuminated by an orange glow from a floodlight. Entering into opener 'Child' and screams of applause, the night had begun. To reflect the special nature of the night, everything had been taken up a notch. The crowd were insane throughout and the highlights for me were the addition of 'Young Lions' (one of my all time favourite Maccabees songs), the use of three ginormous disco balls to make the entire room glow during 'Glimmer', the anthemic singalong during 'Go', a new version/mash up of of 'Latchmere' & 'About Your Dress', 'Heave' being played for the first time, Felix making the entire crowd jump in unison during 'Can You Give It', the amazing light show and lasers during 'Unknow', the crowd being louder than Orlando during the chorus of 'Precious Time' and of course the finale of 'Grew Up At Midnight' wherein people knew it was the last song and just let themselves go in a giant bout of euphoric jumping and flailing. Looking around me I could even see a few tears.

       So it ended and I left bruised, bleeding from two fingers, my face and hair wet with sweat and feeling very, very proud. After a while we made our way down in the VIP area and being totally unaware, all the people here were dressed up for a party and I stood out like a sore thumb (excuse the pun) with my post gig sweaty fringe and scuffed up backpack. Despite feeling very out of place I took the plunge and went inside. It was extremely dark and I could barely recognise my friends let alone anybody else but I kept wandering about on the lookout for any of the boys. Eventually I found Felix and after chatting for a while I passed him a gift that I'd been working on for a while to thank The Maccabees for everything they'd done for me and generally for just being such nice blokes. He seemed completely overwhelmed and his reaction (almost crushing me with a string of hugs) just proved that he really is one of the nicest people I've met and that they deserved everything that was happening to them. And so after one last giant hug we parted ways for now and went off to enjoy the party.

 As I left to join the queue at the bar to grab a drink I started to feel a lot more relaxed until I spotted some of the members from Florence + the Machine already at the bar in front of me. Now it isn't hard to decipher that I am a pretty big Florence + the Machine fan and I've followed them for a very long time. No sooner had I thought to myself ‘no way can she be here’ did Florence herself walk through the door in all her ethereal glory. Realising it would probably be the only time I’ll ever get to meet her in this kind of environment I took the plunge and went over, introduced myself and said I was a huge fan. She was extremely sweet and polite and we chatted for a while. I brought my friend with me who has a Florence related tattoo, to which Florence went crazy for and even took out her phone to get a photo of it (not before fist bumping it to give it 'the Florence power'). A very bizarre but extremely lovable lady.

       The rest of the night went like a blur. I had the traditional few cigarettes with Hugo (who was very drunk or very high at this point and kept hugging me and everyone lots) and spoke to a few other very lovely people before deciding to call it a night at about 2.30. We went round all the Maccabees thanking them and saying our goodbyes. Before we left my friend asked when we would be seeing them again, and a little birdy may have told me the boys will be setting out on another tour from this September. And I for one won’t be missing any of it for the world.