11 Aug 2011. It’s always odd having seats near the stage at an indie rock gig (or any rock gig), where you would expect standing room only. Well such was the case on this night, but as soon as local support act Cheating Sons finished their commendable set, people from the back of the hall started crowding the side aisles at the front. We waited about another half an hour for Two Door Cinema Club to come on, and when the lads finally stepped on stage, everyone at their seats got up, the ones behind front row climbing over chairs to get as many rows ahead as they could. Some stood on the chairs. Bassist Kevin Baird was pleased. “We’re glad you’re standing,” he said.
The boys kicked off with “Cigarettes in the Theatre” to much screaming from the audience. Indeed, there was a lot of screaming and singing along throughout the gig. They played every single song on Tourist History, their one and only album so far, as well as a few new songs. Nevermind that the set lasted just over an hour (with just that much material to work with, that’s all one can expect, really), but we do find it interesting that young band with just one full-length album released can command $148 ticket prices.
That said, we’ve got to say—on top of sounding better than they do on record (as all live performances should be), all of them looked a treat in their Teddy Boy-rockabilly-nerd get ups. Girls at the front were very happy indeed.
Lead singer Alex Trimble said that after the tour they would “disappear for a while,” for they’d been on the road for a long time and it was time they focused on writing material for their next album. Well we’re looking forward to a new release from these guys, and hopefully a longer set if they do play in Singapore again.
