TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB took Plymouth Pavilions by storm, read our live review....

October 16, 2019 Steve Muscutt

Fresh from a spellbinding performance at London’s O2, TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB reach Plymouth on the final date of their UK arena tour to promote their fourth long player False Alarm. The Plymouth audience had turned out in their droves on this blustery Sunday evening to catch the band in Devon’s capital city. There were two support acts on the bill with them, BLOXX and SPORTS TEAM, both London based bands who I had never heard of before tonight. We got comfy and waited for the evening to unfold….

BLOXX opened up with their heady blend of indie rock and grunge laced offerings which got the room moving. Their latest offering ‘Go Out With You' sounded tight and with an impressive Jimi Hendrix-esque ‘behind the head’ guitar move towards the end of the set, it sealed the deal for the majority of the audience!

I read a few interviews that the band had done over the past couple of years and it was interesting to see that most of the sites were advising people to keep an eye on the band as they would soon be playing on larger stages around the country, I guess supporting TDCC on an arena tour kinda ticks this box, right?

SPORTS TEAM were up next and took to the stage to a huge cheer, having heard of these before but never having heard them (does that make sense), I was impressed as they clearly have a good following already!

This 12 legged, 6 headed London based (I’d read that they are based in margate - but that could be old news!) beast surprised me with song after song of juicy, indie pop led tracks that fed the soul and Alex Rice's frantic dance moves reminding me of a cross between the rousing style of Mick Jagger and the jagged limb waving moves of a certain Mr Ian Curtis.

Delving deeper behind the face of the band, you could pick out a solid backline as well as a keyboard player who, well, didn’t appear to play the keyboards. I did see him shake a ‘shakey thing’ and bash a tambourine from time to time though, maybe he’s the ‘Bez’ of the band?

If you wish to check the band out for yourself, you’ll be pleased to hear that they’re heading out on tour across the UK in November and will be DELIGHTED if you could attend (at least) one of their shows!

TDCC arrived on stage bang on time, slightly ahead of time if I was being honest but either way you look at it, they weren’t late, which in my book is a good thing, I don’t like lateness, there’s no need for it at a show is there? I mean it’s hardly as if they’ve had to travel far, from the dressing room maybe? Anyway, it was a good start to what ended up a great evening….

With a brand new album to promote, you’d have thought that the setlist would be leaning heavily on tracks lifted from it, WRONG! I counted only four from the new album, which may lead you to believe that they don’t have faith in the new material or that they made an executive decision to ease people into it gently and play their classics to keep the room onside, either way, the show bounced along quite nicely with a blend of tracks selected from their buoyant back catalogue.

Of the new tracks, ‘Talk’, ‘Dirty Air’, ‘Satisfaction Guaranteed’ and ‘Satellite’ sounded fresh and smelled like a new born baby, I guess they would as they were just a few weeks old! But it was the classics that made the most impact throughout the set, as soon as the opening bars of ‘Undercover Martyn’, ‘Something Good Can Work’ and ‘Are We Ready? (Wreck)’ dropped, the room erupted in almost Beatles-esque style mania, just as the fab four would have witnessed in their heyday.

Joining them on stage was their 2 touring companions who provided drums (Benjamin Thompson) and rhythm guitar, beats, synthesizers, and keys (Jacob Berry). These added a flourish of colour to the proceedings. I guess trying to re-create the studio sound on stage with just three of you is quite a difficult feat to achieve but with their creative input and amazing talent, it sailed by like a well oiled machine, allowing the trio to bask in the spotlight, where they rightfully belong.

They clearly saved the best to last as when they announced ‘Sun', the place lost its collective mind and I thought that the security team would have their work cut out for them as the moshpit massive slipped their vehicles into top gear for one last hurrah.

The sound at the venue can sometimes be ‘hit and miss’ and I must admit that standing at the side of the stage, I may not have been receiving a very good mix of the output so I’ll say that judging by the audience reaction in the middle of the arena, that it sounded a bit tighter and less like an echo chamber.

All in all, a great chance to catch TDCC showcasing new material as well as giving the classics a nice ride out on a wet and blustery Sunday night in Plymouth.

Setlist

1. Talk *

2. Undercover Martyn +

3. I Can Talk ***

4. Are We Ready? (Wreck) **

5. This Is the Life ***

6. Cigarettes in the Theatre ***

7. Next Year ^

8. Do You Want It All? ***

9. Dirty Air *

10. Bad Decisions **

11. Changing of the Seasons +