As you may or may not already know, Maximo Park are officially opening Glastonbury Festival in high style this year. But what you probably didn't realise is this: in a move that is certain to be a Glastonbury first, Maximo Park - one of the UK's most cherished bands - are inviting fans to select the songs they want to hear by voting for the entire setlist that the band will play when they kick off proceedings at the legendary festival on 25 June.
Playing at the Queen's Head Stage at 4pm on Thursday, this set will be shaped and decided specifically by the fans themselves. So they can select whichever Maximo Park classics they want from the band's three albums to date (and a few b-sides) and hear it played in the historic environs of Glastonbury on the opening day. This set will then be followed on Saturday night by another blazing set on the Other Stage which will boast songs from their brand new album "Quicken the Heart", including their forthcoming single "Questing, Not Coasting", to be released on 13 July.
Frontman Paul Smith says "We were trying to decide what songs to play over the two sets and we thought why not let the public decide. We wanted the show to be fun and we don't like to take ourselves too seriously. All of our songs were written for a reason, so we'll be happy to play any one of them".
To vote and see how the set is shaping up, all fans have to do is visit the band's facebook profile: [link]. The voting ends at 5pm on Wednesday, 24 June, with the results to be unveiled on 25 June.
In addition, to add even more of a sense of occasion to proceedings, there will be a flag competition on the day - fans should head down to the Queens Head stage early wearing Maximo Park T-shirts and carrying Maximo Park flags, and send photos of themselves in front of the stage backdrop to the facebook page to win an extremely special and secret prize. As if you needed any further excuse to get to Glastonbury one day early!
