Tokyo Police Club rattles the Riddell

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They got their name from an Internet generator! Sweet!

Author: derek cameron – news writer

“Let’s keep the headphones in.” / Michael Chmielewski

“Let’s keep the headphones in.” / Michael Chmielewski

On Saturday Nov. 8, Tokyo Police Club played the Riddell Centre at the U of R with the help of opening act Said the Whale. The tour was promoting their new album Forcefield.

Forcefield is the group’s fourth studio album, and after having a listen to all their albums, I would say the band is moving in a positive direction. The first track, called “Argentina,” offers an upbeat rock tune in three parts and is guaranteed to be a new favourite. Keyboardist Graham Wright explained, “I mean, at times all of the tracks have been my favourite; you spend so much time with them, but on this album right now, it’s ‘Argentina’.”

After the opening track, the album shows places of new growth for the band. While the first track of the album is a callback to the old hits, the next eight tracks show some growth. “Tunnel Vision” would have to be my favourite track. The lyrics “I just wanna make it through one more night, tonight,” paired with the fast paced tempo was enough to get me through writing an English essay late into the night.

In person, the band is phenomenal to talk to. I found out that their name came from one of the first random name generators when, as they explained, “the internet was just getting good.” And for anyone worrying whether they have plans of stopping, the band assured “we’re going to release more music. Whether it’s an album, digital release, or something new, there’s going to be more.”

Once the concert started I was again pleasantly surprised. There are many bands that sound absolutely terrible in concert. Or at the very least the performance loses something. Tokyo Police Club’s performance is one of the best I have seen for making the concert new and exciting while keeping the character of the album intact.

The set was paced well with a good mix of the slow songs with the upbeat interspersed with the lead vocalist David Monks’ light-hearted speeches. Plus, in the middle of the act they caved to calls for the song “Favourite Colour” which, being the fan favourite, really got the energy of the crowd going.

“It’s nice now that we live in different cities to go on tour. It’s like the first day of school getting to catch up with them again.” Graham said. Up on stage it was evident they were having a blast playing together.

Being altogether quirky, fun, and humble, Tokyo Police Club is bound to entertain, whether you’re listening to the old tracks or seeing them live in concert.

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