Sunday, June 2, 2013

Tokyo Police Club - Sugar Beach (June 2/13)

It was a surprisingly joyous crowd at the Tokyo Police Club beachside show. Surprising because a torrential downpour had just passed through, thoroughly soaking the masses - or at least sending them scattering for shelter presumably. On top of that, the show seemed to be delayed as they got things back in order in the now-returned sunshine. As the beloved, local four-piece finally squinted out at the large assembly it was all singing and cheering though from the crowd. Their meteoric rise to fame based off a couple of very short EPs would often set-up short-lived musical careers but this band has staying power, continuing with ever-better poppy indie rock songs. They gave us a taste of things to come by playing a handful of forthcoming tunes from the LP they've been laying down. The first couple seemed more plodding and less exuberant than some of their best work but the tune about t-shirts and "'88, give or take" sounds to me like a surefire hit. They also played a complete revamp of Tessellate, keeping the lyrical flow but making over the instrumentation entirely - wasn't too shabby either.

Dave Monks was a charming leading man, cutting most of the banter and just singing the songs - but that was fine as they packed them in for an hour. Graham Wright's keyboards always help to push over the top with that flourish of individualism to set the band apart. As mentioned, the crowd gave it all back, singing along and cheering as the wind whipped through, especially on Wait Up. Noticeably missing was Favourite Colour but the encore took care of that right off the bat, and rocked through their self-referential Cheer It On too. Fun in the sun!

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