Till final October, it appeared like The Maccabees would by no means play wherever once more, not to mention at Glastonbury. The beloved British indie band’s 2016 break-up appeared like some of the remaining splits in fashionable music historical past, with the 5 bandmates all immersing themselves in new initiatives and totally different fields within the years that adopted.
Fortunately, although, that sense of absoluteness crumbled, with the band saying their reunion 9 months in the past. Final week, they took to the stage once more for the primary time in eight years for a tiny charity gig and, after a sequence of intimate European warm-up dates, are actually again within the sprawling area of Worthy Farm to headline The Park stage’s remaining day.
A heaving crowd is able to welcome them again with open arms as they shut out the hillside stage for the weekend. ‘Latchmere’ is the proper opener, capturing the giddy pleasure of a superb band making their return, whereas ‘Lego’’s punky exuberance lifts the temper even additional. “Hey Glastonbury, guess what? We’re The Maccabees!” guitarist Felix White tells them afterwards – no shock to anybody who’s been paying consideration, however an exhilarating sentence to listen to in 2025, nonetheless.
This might go down as one in all The Maccabees’ most euphoric reveals. There are few issues extra joyful than witnessing White grinning ear to ear as he hypes up the group between songs. Frontman Orlando Weeks, in the meantime, seems happier than ever, becoming a member of his bandmate in some uncommon cases of geeing up the group and looking out really appreciative of the second.
“It’s a very long time to carry your nerve with the religion you had in a band after which trek up a hill to see if you happen to had been proper,” he shares after a scintillating ‘No Variety Phrases’. “’Land, are you OK?” White asks him seconds later earlier than relaying the singer’s off-mic response to the viewers: “He says he’s superb, he’s very, very, superb.”
That positivity imbues a lot of the setlist, too. ‘Marks To Show It’, which opens with a roaring scream from White, fizzes with hearth, whereas ‘Toothpaste Kisses’ sounds sweeter than ever. Songs like ‘Spit It Out’ and ‘One thing Like Happiness’ sound lovely and stately as they roll out over the hill, the emotion contained inside them dialled all the best way up because the glowing solar units within the distance.
There’s time for an additional reunion, too, when Florence Welch – an previous pal of the band – joins them for ‘Love You Higher’ and a bouncing model of her personal ‘Canine Days Are Over’. “Do we’ve got any Maccabees super-fans within the crowd? ‘Trigger we positively have one on stage,” Welch shares between the 2, the delight on her face an ideal reflection of the sensation within the crowd.
It’s solely when finale ‘Pelican’ rolls round that the bliss that covers The Park stage begins to slowly fade. It feels too quickly for The Maccabees to be leaving after dwelling with out them for therefore lengthy, however the hour they spend on stage is ideal and to not be taken as a right. Now, their reunion rolls on to extra UK dates and their massive day trip at All Factors East. Begin praying now that they determine to proceed past that, too.
The Maccabees performed:
‘Latchmere’
‘Lego’
‘X-Ray’
‘Really feel To Comply with’
‘Kamakura’
‘Wall Of Arms’
‘First Love’
‘Valuable Time’
‘Can You Give It’
‘Spit It Out’
‘No Variety Phrases’
‘Marks To Show It’
‘One thing Like Happiness’
‘Toothpaste Kisses’
‘Love You Higher’
‘Canine Days Are Over’
‘Pelican’
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