Live: Two Door Cinema Club @ Manchester Academy

4 Stars

Its 7:30pm, and outside the union a group of teenage girls are shelling out £40 each for a ticket. Bearing in mind the normal price was £9.50, it’s not surprising the touts are laughing their heads off. It’s also no surprise to find that at least of half of the crowd is underage, and only they seem to enjoy the overly repetitive, overly brash, and distinctly unmelodic We Have Band’s supporting set.

But as soon as the opener ‘Cigarettes in the Theatre’, also the opening track from the band’s debut album Tourist History, kicks in, the entire crowd is bouncing up and down, not just those who are too young to remember the 90s. By the time second track ‘Undercover Martyn’ begins it’s a surprise to find that the floor hasn’t given way to the perfectly synchronised bouncing of the crowd.

A new, as yet unnamed, track offers more of the same dance-tinged indie expected of Two Door Cinema Club, and if possible is even more danceable than anything yet released. Lead singer Alex seems almost overwhelmed by the deafening cheers greeting his talks to the audience between each song. ‘Come Back Home’, the band’s latest single, is undoubtedly greeted with the biggest cheer of the night, and with good reason, it’s by the far and away the highlight, with not a glum face in the house.

After a little under an hour onstage the band finishes with ‘Now I Can Talk’, to rapturous applause. It may have got a little repetitive towards the end, but with only one album’s worth of material, there’s only so much for Two Door Cinema Club to draw upon. That having been said, the atmosphere was great, and no one could fault the Northern Irish trio’s effort levels; it’s been thoroughly enjoyable.

Charlie Rawcliffe, Music Editor