Two Door Cinema Club live in Newcastle
- By Matthew Laidlow -
- Jan 28, 2013
Prior to Two Door Cinema Club arriving on stage, it appeared that not only myself and my gig compadre had accidently stumbled into a 90’s Euro dance disco, but everyone else attending had as well. Who knows? Perhaps TDCC were feeling mischievous? Maybe the bands crew were just having some fun? Whatever reason, a certain cross-section of the crowd were lapping up tracks of yesteryear by none other than Darude, Robert Miles and N Trance.
But it wasn’t a night of retro throwbacks; there was an actual live band before hand to entertain, though Bastille did more to cause slight confusion. Hotly tipped by everyone last year as one of the bands to watch in 2013, problems arose when it wasn’t completely certain if a drummer was present. Perhaps he or she had stage fright was and was pushed to the back of a dimly lit stage? Some mightn’t care about a live drummer as plenty was happening onstage, but seasoned gig veterans will wonder if they were an electronic band attempting an indie setup and failing? Or an indie band missing a key component for whatever reason.
It would be childish to judge Bastille solely on that factor, after all the music is the important factor. What they did produce was a frantic and energetic performance that certainly got the packed crowd going. Vocalist Dan Smith was pacing all over stage to get the crowd going. Not only he smashing an innocent standalone drum to pieces, but darted back and forth to his setup of keyboards and other collections of gadgets. Support bands can very easily lose the interest of crowds who either a) don’t know who they are and b) aren’t in their style of music. But Bastille comfortably took control and maintained why they are a much talk about band.
Gracing the stage a little after 9.15pm, TDCC took little time to star setting the crowds energy levels for the night. ‘Sleep Alone’ belted out of the speaks and so did the half empty plastic pints of beer or whatever liquid may have been in there. Not only is the track one of the stand outs from recent album ‘Beacon’ but TDCC have already been blessed with the ability to write songs with lyrics that everyone will sing back. Not only at gigs, but at festivals to. And this hasn’t happened overnight with reputation that’s been creamed via frontman Alex Trimble’s Olympic opening ceremony last year.
Since TDCC gained notoriety with ‘Tourist History’ they’ve been known as a band who can key catchy indie anthems. Even major high street retailers seem to think so and this was proved when ‘This Is The Life’ was played. As pointed out by my gig buddy, this was the song that soundtracked a Debenhams UK TV campaign and probably saw a few royalties come in off the back. It may be too early to dub songs like ‘I Can Talk’ so called modern day classics, but they are instantly recognisable and compared to many UK indie bands before them, don’t seem like they’ll flutter away like The Enemy and The Kaiser Chiefs have already done.
This gig is part of a solid UK tour that covers the entire nation and with songs like ‘Do You Want It All?’ creating more than a pleasant vibe , TDCC will only move on to bigger and better venue, attracting a bigger audience as they go. Despite festival season not on the radar, it’s safe to say that TDCC will be high up on most of the bills. Hard work and dedication are one aspect, but you've also got to have some great songs.
Luckily they have both of these things in abundance.
By Matthew Laidlow. Blogs at hecklerspray and tweets at MatthewLaidlow
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