Since releasing its debut EP A Lesson in Crime in 2006, Tokyo Police Club has worked hard to step outside the corner – with its formulaic catalog of bleak two-minute anthems – that it painted itself into. After something of a false start with its first full-length, 2008’s Elephant Shell, the Ontario-based band has since shed any notion of being a flash in the pan with this year’s carefully cobbled and aptly named foyer into adulthood, Champ.
The Canadian quartet dropped by a fourth-full Turner Hall Thursday to play a rambunctious hour-long set for a small but varied crowd consisting of teenagers, the middle-aged and anyone else willing to pay $12.14 at the door.
Opening with “Favourite Colour,” an upbeat stop-and-go diversion from Police Club of old, the band of 23 and 24 year olds set the stage for a face-paced and fun performance. The youngsters careened from album to album, juggling each tracked era of their continual growth with seamless transitions. However, most of the band’s set list (understandably) came from Champ. In fact, they came a song away from playing the record in its entirety.
That said; they made sure to touch a few choice cuts from A Lesson in Crime and Elephant Shell when called for. At one point, they systematically remedied a lull from a slower new selection with a rousing and hand clap-heavy rendition of Elephant Shell single “Tessellate.”
The few idle moments the band wasn’t gallivanting through its discography, they were gracious guests to the undersold ballroom of local hosts. Beyond lyrics, seldom more than “Is everyone having fun?” or “Thank you, Milwaukee” was uttered by constantly smiling singer/bassist Dave Monks. Grateful as they were for the support of onlookers, Tokyo Police Club more than held up its end of the bargain. Paramount to that was multi-instrumentalist Graham Wright. As he alternated among guitar, keyboard, tambourine, bass guitar and even a wayward drum stick subsequently used to tap against his keyboard stand, Wright proved invaluable in replicating each song’s layered construct almost verbatim to the band’s recorded material.
Whipping energetically through more than 20 songs (including a brand new one) in the allotted time, the band seemed set on playing everyone’s favorite Tokyo Police Club song before calling it a night. During the encore, the band even covered Weezer’s “My Name is Jonas” in hopes of leaving even the most unsatisfied bystander with a song to sing.
In many ways, Thursday’s performance can be seen as a Tokyo Police Club’s Greatest Hits extravaganza. Except the once-pigeonholed “Blog Band” has shown itself as a constantly evolving, immensely driven and (more than anything) talented group of songwriters who are still growing into their full potential, and whose greatest hits have yet to come.
