By Michael Wynn
Oakville, Ontario, Canada – November 2, 2016 – Tokyo Police Club & The Elwins at the Oakville Centre for Performing Arts. Oakville is located about 20 minutes west of Toronto, Ontario by car.
I’ve attended many events at the Oakville Centre. But every one of them was a dance recital for my kids. This was my first “music” concert here.
Full disclosure, I have known Graham Wright (Keyboardist, Guitarist) from Tokyo Police Club for several years, having worked with him at the CBC. On this night we met in the lobby, and he sat with me for the first few Elwins songs, hilariously belting out support for them in between songs. I don’t think they (The Elwins) knew what was going on until about 3 songs in.
Both groups have very similar backgrounds, meeting and forming their bands in Newmarket area Highschools. The Elwins are led by Matthew Sweeney on lead vocals/guitar, with Travis Stokl on drums, Feurd Ian Robertson Moore on guitar/keyboard (pretty much the best mustache in Indie Rock), and Frankie Figliomeni on bass guitar.
The Elwins kicked things off promptly at 8pm, playing a lively set. They played many songs those familiar with CBC Radio 2 & Indie 88 would recognize, including the catchy “So Down Low” and “Show me how to move”. At one point Frankie, the bassist, who seemed to really enjoy himself throughout the night, took over vocal duties on the song “Bringing Out The Shoulders”. Overall it was a great set. I’d recommend seeing them if you ever get the chance.
After a brief intermission, Tokyo Police Club kicked off their show with “Not my girl”, which is on their earlier release this year, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Radness – Part 1. A large group at the back of the theatre stood up immediately and started dancing. Following the song, Dave Monks, the lead singer, quipped sarcastically: “Do we need to call security?”. It was a very enjoyable set, and they played many recognizable songs. The sound was easy on the ears. Not too loud but loud enough to enjoy the music without earplugs.
Tokyo Police Club consists of Dave Monks on bass guitar/lead vocals, Josh Hook on lead guitar, Graham Wright on guitar/keyboard and Greg Alsop on drums. Set highlights included: “Wait Up”, “Tesselate”, “Hot Tonight”, “Bambi”, “Nature of the Experiment”, “What’s your favourite colour?” – to name a few. The highlight for me was the new song, “My House”, which Dave prompted the audience to participate in singing along to.
For an Encore, the group decided to mellow things out with an acoustic set. No microphones or sound system. This worked well in the theatre setting. “PCH” was the highlight for me during this part of the show, although it did remind me of the “PCH” marathon they put on, where they played the song 200 times, over the course of one day in June, with help from many friends and fans.
This year, Tokyo Police Club has put out 2 EPs, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Radness Parts 1 & 2. You can also get a vinyl version that aggregate’s both EPs into one release.
Overall this was the first time I had ever seen Tokyo Police Club (headlining at least) and with the amount of recognizable songs they have in their catalogue they did not disappoint. They have a very upbeat set of songs. And I like the direction of their latest releases, the songs are catchy and mature without being too mainstream.
Hello
Good morning!
Good morning! I’m looking forward to checking out TPC at the Black Cat in DC in January! And really excited for Sloan (SSSLLLOOOAAANNN!!!) at the Rock and Roll hotel this Friday!
I have booked my train ticket to go and see Royal Canoe in Manchester next year
WOOHOOOO!
Great post @Wynn! That show must have been total fun.
@Janet… The Black Cat in DC is a great venue. Have you been there before?
Hi.
Thanks Justin, ya it was fun, weird to see these types of bands in a theatre though.
MW, yeah, I have trouble with that.
@Wynn… def, the acoustics are way different. How’d they sound? Better, worse, different?
Well it’s a theatre, so sound-wise the acoustics were very much better than a club/bar, but the atmosphere, (i.e. everyone sitting in chairs) is a bit geriatric, not conducive to rock and roll.
Ever seen that Video of Zeppelin early on playing to a theatre? It’s really weird, here they are rocking out and the audience seems like they are yawning their way thru it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5A12KbW4vPQ
@Justin, I haven’t been to the Black Cat before, but I’m looking forward to checking it out. Most of my DC live music experiences have been limited to the 9:30 Club or the Lincoln Theatre.
MW, not surprising. The audience. It’s The Olympia in 1969, so the audience wouldn’t necessarily have known much about the band. (Wiki says the formed in 1968.) Certainly, the boys in that band were not the demi-legends they became.
…they formed…
Thanks for the great review Wynnsie. The venue does make the experience different. Last weekend I saw Regina’s punk band The Extroverts at a beauty salon. Strange but fun.
Any ideas what I should do for tomorrows post?
I saw Hannah Epperson on Friday night. She was fantastic! Kirkofdoom has talked about her for years and I am glad I finally got a chance to see her live. She had a couple fellas from Toronto with her Omhouse and with them and her looping arrangements, the music moved me to tears. We had a good chat with her after. She is one of those spiritual souls.
I pretty well don’t go to shows of some people I’d like to hear, when they’re playing at the National Arts Centre (although I’m told good things about the Fourth Stage) or, much worse, at The Bronson Centre. Which is the amphitheatre of the old Immaculata High School. Nice walls painted puce, soft seats that are “individualistic”, and often Security that’ll tell you “no you can’t stand”.
I meant to post this a couple of days ago but did you know the second edition of the Polaris Podcast is out?
Or download for later from
http://feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/292018421-polarismusicprize-polaris-podcast-episode-2-kaytranada-wins.mp3
(pls edit out comma before “individ…)
what comma?
TFW you find a band you want to write about only to learn that they broke up 3 years ago
Garf, 11:45 That one. thx.
Garf, could you write a retrospective of them of sorts? Or make mention that the band aren’t together anymore, but their impact lives on?
I have thrown something together for tomorrow so I am going to get an early night so I can get up in the morning to finish Thursdays new releases list.