The Maccabees share snaps from first rehearsal since 2017

30 January 2025, 13:54 | Updated: 30 January 2025, 14:11

By Jenny Mensah

The Pelican outfit have officially started practicing together after announcing a reunion date for 2025.

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The Maccabees have officially started rehearsals.

The First Love outfit announced their plans to reunite after seven years and confirmed a headline set at All Points East this year.

Since then, the indie rockers have been sharing some of their most memorable performances from throughout the years, but this week saw them look forward as they started practicing together.

Sharing a series of photos from Instagram, they told their fans: "Our first rehearsal since 2017".

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A post shared by The Maccabees (@themaccabees)

The band - comprised of Orlando Weeks, guitarist brothers Felix and Hugo White, bassist Rupert Jarvis and drummer Sam Doyle - have yet to announce more dates for their reunion, but getting together to rehearse in January has left fans hoping more dates will be announced soon.

Speaking about their date at All Points East Felix White told Radio X's Toby Tarrant that the shows were "too magical" to pass up.

"In a way, All Points East has sort of become that for the indie generation, because Reading and Leeds has changed a little bit, so you always look at the line-up," he admitted.

"So, that was the one that, like, when it got offered to us, it was like, ‘Argh! We can’t not do that!’ It just feels too great, too magical. So that’s where we are.”

The Maccabees are headlining All Points East 2025!

Felix also shared one of his "biggest regrets" about his time in The Maccabees.

Although he's excited to play All Points East for the first time, the guitarist admitted he has regrets over missing out on more things with the band, such as a performance on the weekly edition of Top Of The Pops, which was cancelled in 2006.

Speaking to his brother Hugo on A White Christmas on Radio X, he recalled: "When The Maccabees started, one of the most heartbreaking things for us is that Top Of The Pops had just ended, but it did come back every time at Christmas and we did it once or twice.

"And one of my biggest regrets with The Maccabees is performing that in fingerless gloves, because it got pre-recorded in the summer and it wasn't actually Christmas, obviously."

A White Christmas on Radio X with Felix & Hugo White

Describing the festive show, which came complete with fake snow and props, the Marks To Prove It guitarist added: "I thought to ham up the Christmas-ness of it, if I did it in gloves it would look cold."

The performance in question was actually a Top Of The Pops New Year's Eve special, which you can watch here, but Felix is indeed wearing the fingerless gloves in question and looking pretty sheepish about it, too: