Irish trio Two Door Cinema Club was pretty much universally hotly tipped by British music critics last year even before their debut album Tourist History even made it to store shelves in early March 2010. The band received further validation as a one of only of 15 acts to make it on the BBC Sound of 2010 long list. Despite accolades like these, the band have not rested on their laurels, relentlessly touring and easily gaining new fans with their brand of pop / punky hybrid rock, first across Britain and the rest of Europe. Now it appears North America has caught the Two Door bug, with many of the dates on their first-ever headlining tour of our continent selling out. High off playing a great gig the night before at New York’s Bowery Ballroom, they performed at Johnny Brenda’s in Philadelphia’s Fishtown neighborhood last Thursday with two opening acts, Million Young and Bad Veins.
Florida’s Million Young took to the stage first. Frontman Mike Diaz (guitar, programming) sings dreamy lyrics but is backed by synths and Afrobeat. They sound like what you might imagine would result if Beach House went to the islands and decided to make a record. That’s my impression anyway – other people have compared the band’s sound to South Carolinan Toro y Moi. The vocals are too new age-y for me, but I was really digging the synth and drum sections. Songs like “Mien” and “Cynthia” set early gig-goers gyrating.
I’d seen Bad Veins before, also in the second spot on the bill; they supported We Were Promised Jetpacks in DC in February. Thankfully, singer Benjamin Davis still rocks the telephonic vocals, and drummer Sebastien Schultz is still pounding out the militant beats that pair so well with Davis’ style of sometimes drawn out, sometimes disaffected and Beck-ish, and sometimes theatrical rock singing style. Their tape player, Irene, was employed to add further warmth to the music with strings and brass. Davis commented that “her” location stage right was unusual (usually the tape player is set up in the middle of the stage between them, so that Schultz can reach the play and stop buttons).
However, their set did not seem to be affected by this at all. Songs like the yearning “Gold and Warm” and the groovy “Crosseyed” and “Falling Tide” captivated the audience so much that the crowd was won over, with several fans on the floor and in the balcony shouting with much displeasure when Davis announced they only had one song left. I’m impressed by all that these two guys from Cincinnati can musically and their performance in Philadelphia was no exception. Watch this video of “The Lie” below from South by Southwest 2009, just gorgeous. Definitely check them out. Really, they should be much bigger in America than they are.
For most of the bands I like from overseas, it takes a long time for America to catch on and to ever see them on network television, so I take Two Door Cinema Club‘s appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live earlier this month as an excellent sign that they’ve already been recognized in America as a good bet. (Catch one of the songs they performed for Kimmel below.) When it came time for Two Door’s set on Thursday, there were several teasing moments where the lights went down and went back up again as guitars and gear were checked and re-checked. This gave ample time for latecomers to fill in on both floors when the band finally took the stage, beginning with the engaging love song “Cigarettes in the Theatre,” which I imagine will be their trademark set starter for the foreseeable future.
Listening to a record in the comfort of your bedroom or car is different than seeing that band live, and this can’t be stressed enough in the case of Two Door Cinema Club. Watch for the frenetically played, flying guitars being played by the principal members, bassist Kev Baird, lead guitarist Sam Halliday, and lead singer / guitarist Alex Trimble. Drumsticks also fly courtesy of Brighton, England touring drummer Ben Thompson, personally chosen by the band in October to replace the Mac programming employed on their recordings. This is just fun, fast-paced guitar pop with good lyrics. Watching gig-goers go into near trances over the great music made me smile.
The surprises of the evening were the playing of two little-known b-sides, “Hands Off My Cash, Monty” (introduced by Baird with the warning, “you won’t know this one, unless you are a super fan or something“) and “Kids,” which wasn’t the MGMT cover some of us at the front had guessed jokingly when the set lists were first laid out on the stage floor. Both of these sound great live and in truth, either of them would have felt right at home on Tourist History. The crowd enthusiastically clapped in time to the bridge of “Costume Party,” leading me to believe that many of them had already gotten their free mp3 of the song from joining the band’s mailing list.
But if I were to pick the highlights of the night, hands down they would be the songs from the encore. The printed set list did not indicate there would be one, but a big fan at the front commented loudly to the rest of us, “They have to come back. They haven’t played ‘I Can Talk’ yet!” Wise words. After the audience’s insistent chant of “one more song!” the band returned to play “Come Back Home” followed by “I Can Talk.” By then, these lads from Bangor had the Philly crowd eating out of their hand. World domination is next.
Two Door Cinema Club Set List
Cigarettes in the Theatre
Undercover Martyn
Hands Off My Cash, Monty
Do You Want It All
Something Good Can Work
This is the Life
Kids
Costume Party
You’re Not Stubborn
What You Know
Eat That Up, It’s Good for You
//
Come Back Home
I Can Talk
Two Door Cinema Club: website | myspace | Two Door Cinema Club To Tour with Phoenix in Spring, Headline First North American Tour | “Something Good Can Work” video | @ Constitution Hall | Interview with: Sam Halliday of Two Door Cinema Club
Million Young: website | myspace
Bad Veins: website | myspace | @ Rock ‘n’ Roll Hotel
