The CLUAS Archive: 1998 - 2011

21

Two Door Cinema Club (live in The Tripod, Dublin)

Two Door Cinema Club liveReview Snapshot: Having finally gained access to The Tripod after being refused entrance at 17 with a fake ID you could forgive Alex Trimble for looking a little nervous on stage, this time facing a sold out headline show with a 1400 strong crowd. With just one album under their belt one wondered whether this band could live up to standard everyone else seems to have set them. 

The Cluas Verdict? 7.5 out of 10

Full Review: As it turns out, you don’t need more than one strong album's worth of material to pull off a headline show. Not when you have two equally strong opening acts and the right kind of music playing in between to keep the crowds energy pumping.

Opening the doors at 7:30, you could tell the small crowd standing outside were glad to be out of the cold. It wasn’t long before we were faced with the dazzling flash of strobe lights staring blindingly at a trio that can only be described as Belfast’s best party band. Sadly for Not Squares, emerging as the opening act they were met with a miniscule crowd who were too cold to move to their dancey uplifting blend of electronica and post-punk.
 
Taking the stage shortly afterwards were what I could only describe as one of the best bands emerging out of Ireland at the moment: The Cast of Cheers, who arrived fully formed at the start of this year with their (free to download) debut Chariots. Having only come on the scene this year, you would not expect this band to play as tightly as they did, with edgy vocals and a guitarist not afraid to throw himself around the stage manically between lead duties. One wonders where they thought up the idea of using a sampler loop pedal to have a mysterious guitar play from somewhere unseen whilst they thrash about onstage.
 
Having little knowledge of this band apart from hearing their name thrown about once or twice I was amazed to see the number of people in the crowd singing and dancing along, leading me to wonder, why they’re still singing “is there any f**ing love in here?”
 
The clocks struck 9:30 and Two Door Cinema Club were greeted with a full room of high octane energy, something that works well when you’re music is vibrant punchy electro pop. Having finally put the drum machine away, for touring purposes at least, they've brought with them an actual living drummer who can now let their full sound be known. 
 
Herein lies the failing in their debut album ‘Tourist History’, it just doesn’t live up to their live show. Two Door Cinema Club are something of an anomaly, when playing live they possess this profound surge of energy, that no matter how experienced or inexperienced a band may be, it just can’t be replicated on record.
 
The band played solidly through their first album, treating the crowd to a new track, a teaser of positive things to come. Suffice to say I was never one to question whether any act was worthy of headlining their own show but tonight made me realise, the support act can and will upstage you in more ways than one if they are good enough, as is proof with The Cast of Cheers.
 
If you have the opportunity to go see Two Door Cinema Club, it’s certainly worth the money, if for no other reason than they’re really fun to bop around to with a crowd particularly in a small venue such as Tripod. But tonight was a fine example on the importance of keeping your eyes on the opening bands, considering they could be headlining even larger shows in the coming years and you can say you saw them when they upstaged everybody. 

Greg Synnott


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