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Live Reviews
Live Review: Tokyo Police Club at The Scala in London on 15 Jul
By CMU Editorial | Published on Thursday 22 July 2010
Ontario shouty-jangly-keyboardy-indie-types Tokyo Police Club have got a lot to answer for. I’ve heard them been called everything from energetic and joyous to annoyingly poppy and mindbogglingly immature. Well, for what it’s worth, I think they’re flipping marvellous, and I vouch for the former; theirs is the type of music I listen to when I want to dance around like a mad thing, so get off your arse and stop being so miserable, okay?
Dance everyone did at their recent gig in London, and from the get-go – but dancing wasn’t all that was shaking up the crowd that Thursday night. A mere ten minutes into their set – and directly behind yours truly – saw the scene of a raucous fight between two bratty young gentleman, causing everyone and their girlfriend to scream in horror as a security guard the size of an angry Tolkien troll dragged them off into the perilous darkness of whatever lies behind the bar. Stop the music? Everyone out? I don’t think so, mister! The band played on like troupers, unhelpfully telling everyone to ‘push each other happily’ as they continued their set, a clever mish-mash of old classics and the catchier tunes off of their recently released LP, ‘Champ’.
‘Bambi’, with its harsh electronic punches and easily sung-along lyrics was a crowd favourite, but of course ‘Tesselate’ and the encore tune ‘Cheer It On’ were what really sent the young crowd into a frenzy. I stress the word ‘young’ here, as, at a mere twenty-four years of age, I definitely felt like the oldest within the first couple of rows, yet besides that, the energy of the night felt uncategorically burgeoning, building in energy but maintaining a strong and messy sense of untamed juvenility.
In spite of a few technical mishaps in the ways of guitar straps slinging off and tambourines being thrown about like hot potatoes as the energy really crackled the band’s nerves – and not to mention an inconveniently cunty crowd – the night brought back home the reality of Tokyo Police Club’s popularity and true ability to spark and light fire to an eager room. TW
