Two Door Cinema Club, Parades@ The Enmore Theatre, Sydney(07/02/2011)

Wed 9th Feb, 2011 in Gig Reviews

Selling out The Enmore theatre for a band that toured as recently as 6 months ago for Splendour and sideshows and that is also here playing St Jerome’s Laneway Festival is no slim pickings. Two Door Cinema Club have managed to achieve this feat on the back of a single album release. Dropping out of uni sure is paying off for these guys.

Delighted to be tagging along on this tour are Parades. They are greeted with a thunderous cheer leading the ever comfortable on stage Jonathan Boulet to announce that they are not Two Door Cinema Club. As perhaps many of the 19 and 20 year olds in the crowd may have been at their first ever gig, this seemed a wise move.

The Enmore is a great location for a band with such an atmospheric sound as Parades alternative pop styling. You are encompassed by the ever building rhythms and shrieks of guitar and effects. This intensity carried and grew throughout the set, receiving deserved applause. Certainly a capable band, with some sweet moods though may struggle to portray this in other venues.

Two Door Cinema Club enter stage left and immediately show a respectful level of gratitude and grace in response to the never-ending barrage of applause, and it didn’t stop all night. They could have farted and received a deafening response from the crowd. The band clearly floated on the wave of excitement in the room and it was a pleasure to see such a modest response by them.

For a band with only one album it feels weird to provide an outline of songs played. Everything you expected was here. No song got missed. Undercover Martin was up second followed by what was announced as an old one; Hands off My Cash, Monty. Do You Want it All and Something Good Can Work followed and then so did new song Handshake which seemed to get the least response from the crowd, though still more than Parades ever received.

Two other non album tracks, Kids and Costume Party were also played and the crowd loved them as if they were album tracks, which makes me wonder why Handshake wasn’t so popular. Perhaps the more mature less dance orientated sound just failed to connect with the youth in the mosh pit. Yes, this felt like an all ages gig. Girls complaining about getting pushed whilst in the mosh, young guys taking off their shirts and trying to start a mini circle pit, Girls on guys shoulders trying to sell their barely bodies to the band unbeknownst to their boyfriends below.

All in all Two Door Cinema Club are a fun live band, they have plenty of energy, and every song makes you want to dance and bounce like a fool. It’s just down right good fun and hence no surprise they are achieving such a sharp rise in fame from the Manning Bar to selling out The Enmore in six months time. Let’s just see if they can push through the second album blues, no doubt they will be back touring that in 12 months.