Photos by Janine Van Oostrom
Two Door Cinema Club are back and better than ever; riding off the release of their first record since 2012, Gameshow, they are here reminding the world why they are the kings of indie music. On a cold Tuesday night, Rebel the nightclub/music venue/most inconvenient location ever, was tightly packed with eager fans waiting for Two Door’s come back.
The night was opened up by BROODS the sibling duo from New Zealand, really all that I can say is if you’ve never seen them before I highly suggest you do. The lead vocalist Georgia Nott has the perfect combination of an angelic vocals and a demanding stage presence to captivate any audience; on top of that she is backed by her immensely talented brother Caleb Nott on multiple instruments and synths. All in all it is nearly impossible to not get moving when BROODS is on the stage and they created quite the atmosphere for the evening that was to come.
As Rebel got more packed and time went on everyone eagerly awaited Two Door’s triumphant return to the Toronto stage. Finally the beginning notes of “Cigarettes in the Theater” began overtop of an array of strobe lights. Two Door Cinema was finally back and they were sure to make the next few hours ones that the audience would not soon forget. Next they played one of their greatest crowd pleasers “Undercover Martyn”. You could literally hear the fans singing along to the guitar riffs of the song and overpowering the vocals of lead singer Alex Trimble. They planned a few older songs like “Do You Want It All?” and “This Is the Life” before finally playing a new one. A few songs in and the crowd had really found their groove as the band broke into two of their new hits “Bad Decisions” and “Fever”. Their setlist was a perfect mix of old and new and you could just tell that members of the crowd grew up listening to their songs like “Next Year” “Sleep Alone” “Sun”, and “What You Know”. Yet they also mixed in a perfect amount of their newer songs like “Are We Ready (Wreck)” and “Gameshow” to keep the setlist fresh and exciting.
It appears that the three year hiatus has done Two Door very well; on stage they seemed full of life and energy. Every single song was performed with the same passion as if it was their first time playing it. Trimble was oh so entertaining to watch in his matching red coat, shoes and of course hair. You can count yourself as lucky if you were close enough to catch lead guitarist, Sam Halliday’s fancy footwork; also you can’t forget about the bass player/synth guy/backup vocalist/backbone of the band Kevin Baird.
From the opener to the very last song the entire show was truly a pleasure to watch. It is obvious that Two Door have been around the block more than once. While they were truly missed in the music scene on their hiatus it is wonderful to have them back; see you soon boys.
