The Maccabees, who announced their split earlier this year, will play three farewell gigs in Manchester and London next year.
The tour, entitled, ‘Live For The Last Time: The Farewell Shows’, will consist of three dates beginning on the 28th of June at Manchester’s O2 Apollo before the band will play two nights at London’s Alexandra Palace on June 30th and July 1st.
After 14 years in the business the band announced in August that they would be no more, saying in a statement: ‘The decision has obviously been an incredibly difficult one, given that The Maccabees has been such a huge part of our lives until now. We are very proud to be able to go out on our own terms, at our creative peak and off the back of the best and biggest shows we have ever done.’ The announcement came as a shock to many following the success of the band’s 2015 album ‘Marks To Prove It’ and the memorable headline set they played at Latitude festival, although in their statement the band did shed some light on this, commenting that, ‘there have not been fallings out and we are grateful to say that we are not leaving the group behind as a divided force. It has been a rare and absolutely incredible time that we all feel very lucky to have shared.’ Indeed, the statement looked forward to today’s announcement, saying ‘There will be some farewell celebration shows announced in the near future.’
Following this announcement, the band will obviously have three more shows to leave as their legacy. Felix White said of the gigs, via Clash, ‘We’re planning on these final shows being a huge celebration, thank you and goodbye to 14 years of writing, recording, playing and touring together.’ Judging by the band’s August statement, though, this will only be goodbye to The Maccabees and not goodbye to music for the band’s members, who say, ‘Though there are no concrete plans at this stage, we are all planning to continue making music. We are excited about the future and intend to move on, with some sadness, but with appreciation, affection and huge pride at the music we have made and all that we have achieved together.’ In an interview with NME frontman Orlando Weeks said he thinks he’ll still be making music when he’s 50 because of his love for writing while Felix White said he ‘definitely’ would, adding, ‘I dunno in what capacity, but I absolutely think it’s something I won’t get bored with and give up. The Maccabees has taught me that if you really want to, you can do something that excites you and that you’re interested in. You can make anything happen.’ It therefore very much remains to be seen what the future holds for these lads from London who’ve come a long way already.
Tickets will go on sale at 9am on Friday, 9th December so get up and online early if you want to catch this slice of music history.
The full dates are as follows:
28/6 – O2 Apollo – Manchester
30/6 – Alexandra Palace – London
1/7 – Alexandra Palace – London
