The Maccabees on Adele supporting them at “pub in Battersea for 200 people” pre-COVID
The Maccabees have recalled the time when Adele supported them at a pre-COVID show in London.
It was members Hugo and Felix White who remembered the moment during a new interview on Radio X. The conversation took place as the band confirmed the news of their comeback this week, and announced that they’d be taking to the stage in the capital’s Victoria Park on August 24 for their first gig together in eight years.
The performance will coincide with the 10th anniversary of their fourth and final album, ‘Marks To Prove It’.
Now, in the new interview, the two members have recalled how the idea to reform arose, as well as details of a secret show they played together just before the COVID pandemic.
Talking on the radio show, they explained that the one-off gig was performed for close friends and family while at Hugo White’s wedding. “It was probably four years after we split up. It was definitely [at the point where we thought] we weren’t going to do anything ever again,” Hugo said.
“We felt we had to do that in order to move on. At my wedding, we had a line-up of people that were going to play. We had hired out a pub and had the stage set up, and it was one of those things where I thought we should end the night with The Maccabees.”
He added: “Asking Orlando [Weeks] was the big one and I was like ‘I don’t think he’s going to do that, even for my wedding’. But he did! He came along and we did the Maccabees again.”
The two went on to explain how they were just one of many performers lined up for the wedding – with performances also coming from Jamie T and Florence Welch of Florence + The Machine. “Then it was Adele,” Felix added, going on to recall how she played ‘Rolling In The Deep’, shortly before The Maccabees took to the stage for their set.
“Because it was Hugo’s wedding and he was doing the billing: supporting The Maccabees was Adele. So we went on after Adele,” Felix added.
Hugo explained: “It was amazing because it was in this pub in Battersea for 200 people. You could hear it all from outside. It was a week before COVID happened and the whole lockdown thing. It felt like the last because then all gigs were cancelled. It was like, ‘Wow, we just had the biggest gig of the year’.”
As well as performing their upcoming comeback gig in London, it has also been revealed that The Maccabees will be collaborating with All Points East to curate the full line-up for the day, including “artists that they love, both old and new”.
The first wave of opening artists has been shared, including Bombay Bicycle Club, The Cribs, Dry Cleaning, Nilüfer Yanya, The Murder Capital, Divorce and Prima Queen.
Other than the brief wedding appearance, The Maccabees haven’t performed together since their last show at London’s Alexandra Palace in 2017.
Felix White, who also performs in 86TVs alongside brother Hugo, explained: “In the intervening years we’ve been to All Points East a lot, separately. It’s become a bit of a landmark festival for us, always checking who’s on the line-up.
“I’d go and have a great time throughout the day, but there was always this pinch of regret watching headliners that we could’ve done it ourselves one day too. I thought that moment had passed, and it was something I was prepared to come to terms with that I was always going to miss. “I think we’re all kind of shocked and excited that we get to do it together again.”
During an interview with NME this summer, Felix was asked if there were any plans in the works to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the last Maccabees album.
“I haven’t spoken to anyone about it,” he replied. “Sometimes someone from Fiction, the label that put our records out, says, ‘This is an anniversary for that’. But no one’s got in touch with me about [the 10th anniversary].
“I like the classic album tours that people do – I’m really into that. So it’s a weird one with The Maccabees, yeah. We’re not doing any of that. We’re sort of just doing our own lives, which feels pretty good. Where we left it at Ally Pally… it’d be so difficult to replicate.”
86TVs have since shared their self-titled debut album and are scheduled to head out on a UK headline tour next month. Find any remaining tickets here.
Speaking to NME in 2023, Felix discussed the “perfect heartbreak” of The Maccabees never topping the bill at Reading & Leeds. “We were so close to it, man,” Hugo added. “We headlined Latitude [in 2016] and that was our first step into that thing. Reading was always on the list.”
Since The Maccabees’ split, Orlando Weeks has made three solo records: ‘A Quickening’ (2020), ‘Hop Up’ (2022) and ‘Loja’ (2024).
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Liberty Dunworth
NME
