Two Door Cinema Club The Corner, Manchester 21/11/09
3/5
By: Rachel Bolland
The Corner in Manchester has to be one of the more surreal venues I’ve been to in a while. Ridiculously tiny, £2 pints and elaborate murals aside, the best (worst) feature was the fact that you had to walk ACROSS THE STAGE to get the toilets. Now this may not seem particularly relevant but it ended up having a fairly significant impact on Two Door Cinema Club’s set.
Before the delightful Northern Irish boys took to the stage, it was Wolf Gang’s turn. The evening was a launch for new Manchester based label Hit Club, releasing Wolf Gang as their first single. They were fine, “overwhelmingly fine” as they were described by my friend. They provided indie guitar songs over energetic bass lines, which, despite their funk leanings failed to really move anyone in watching or really go anywhere. Moving into a more downbeat piano track they showed their softer side but these tracks again failed to actually achieve anything meaningful. They closed their set with new single ‘The King and All of His Men’ which was definitely a high point, a catchy indie pop gem with an incredible drum opener, which inspiring the most reaction from the crowd. Unfortunately it was still a pretty lukewarm one.
In between the bands there was the usual changeover of one band’s gear to the others. Due to its unfortunate location punters used the half hour to make a mad dash across the stage for the loo (all this toilet talk does have a point, I swear). As Two Door Cinema Club were about to take to the stage someone went to use the facilities and managed to break a fairly important part of their gear. Cue a very pissed off band and very, very shouty tour manager. After a scramble to replace it and a toilet ban being enforced the band took to the stage.
Launching into the energetic ‘Come Back Home’ it was obvious that everyone was still pretty tense. This seemed to be picked up by the audience who were unwilling to properly let go as the band were obviously still annoyed by the whole thing. However, as they eased into the set the high energy, infectious pop goodness this band play managed to get people moving. By the time they reached early single ‘Something Good Can Work’ the band had relaxed a bit and hit their stride. Sam and Kev, guitarist and bassist, respectively, threw themselves into their rock-star roll, throwing themselves all over the tiny stage while singer Alex seemed a bit more reserved all night, it being his gear that was broken.
The addition of a live drummer has helped Two Door’s live show no end, bringing a new energy and vibrancy to tracks that were previously lost behind the laptop produced beats. New single ‘I Can Talk’ was a definite high point and tracks like ‘This Is the Life’ and ‘What You Know’ proved that their forthcoming debut album is going to be something special. As good as Two Door were the crowd just never seemed to get over the tense start (and the telling off they got), possibly hampered by the shape of the venue meaning that only about 5 people could actually see. When the set ended it was difficult to tell if the surge forward was out of joy at what at just occurred or relief that the toilets were back in use.
Watch a video of Two Door Cinema Club performing at the 2009 Hinterland Festival here:
Artists in this article: Two Door Cinema Club
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