Maxïmo Park singer praises The Sage Gateshead

Maxïmo Park front man Paul Smith has been remembering the band's first performance at The Sage Gateshead ahead of the music centre's fifth birthday.

The Newcastle band were one of the first acts to perform in the venue, playing both Hall One and Two as part of a "tuning" concert before it opened.

Paul described it as a "one-off experience" they could never repeat.

He is returning to the venue for its birthday celebrations and will be DJing in the concourse on 19 December 2009.

Carpet smell

Paul told BBC Newcastle's Charlie Charlton the tuning concert was memorable for several reasons - including what the audience were wearing.

He said: "A lot of people were walking around in sort of blue balloon things over their feet for health and safety reasons.

"It was a pleasure to tread the boards and feel like everybody in that hall was watching us - especially because I don't think we'd played anywhere that big at that stage."

Paul Smith said the tuning concert was a unique experience

Paul also said he had great memories of The Sage Gateshead's opening weekend back in 2004.

Maxïmo Park played then too, and, bizarrely, his memories include the smell of the carpet in the dressing rooms!

Why? Well, the band arrived at the venue around 5am after driving up from the south overnight.

Tired and sleepy, they persuaded a reluctant security guard to let them crash on the floor of the dressing rooms.

"We knew we had to be there for nine o'clock for a sound check or something," Paul said, "so I remember the smell of the carpet!"

Distant dreams

Paul said he thought The Sage Gateshead had been great for encouraging people to listen to less mainstream music and instruments.

And he hopes Maximo Park's connection with the venue will continue in the future:

"You can look to it to do something a bit different and not follow the treaded path of going and playing in the regular venues and playing a big loud show.

"It would be nice to do something with strings there one day, but these are just distant dreams at the moment."

The Sage Gateshead is holding a series of fifth birthday concerts from 17-20 December 2009.

Click on the link below to read another birthday story:

The Sage Gateshead turns five