Two Door Cinema Club – Live

Buffalo shows up to dance with Two Door Cinema Club

If you were paying any attention in the 2010’s, chances are you were going to hear one of Two Door Cinema Club’s songs at clubs, on TV, or in commercials and video games. The indie rock band from Bangor, Ireland was a staple during that decade and their 2010 debut studio album Tourist History (QRO review) was a huge hit and garnered the band much acclaim. This year marks the first time they’ve toured North America since 2019, since the 2022 tour to support their fifth studio album Keep on Smiling was cancelled due to health issues with bassist Kevin Baird. Millennials here in the States have been chomping at the bit for Two Door Cinema Club to visit our shores again and they’ve obliged with an extended tour. On Monday, July 29th, they played at the ArtPark Amphitheatre in Lewiston, NY.

The support for this leg of the tour was indie rock band flipturn from Florida, founded by three high school friends their senior year. Vocalist/guitarist Dillon Basse, guitarist Tristan Duncan, and bassist Madeline Jarman then added Mitch Fountain and Devon VonBalson to complete the lineup. Their 2022 debut album Shadowglow was well received and the band has accumulated over 30 million listens on Spotify! In talking to some of the younger fans in the front row, many in that evening’s audience were there for flipturn. It’s always great to see young bands playing with such joy and that joy was infectious, resulting in the crowd bouncing and singing along. Flipturn played songs from both Shadowglow and their earlier EPs, and even played a couple of new songs, a foretelling of a new record later on this year. It was a fun set and was a great way to start the evening.

It was still daylight when Two Door Cinema Club kicked off their set with “This is the Life” from their Tourist History; the party started straight away! They then played “I Can Talk”, a single also from the same album and that gave us an idea of the focus of the evening. In fact, they practically played their whole debut album, while only playing two songs from their latest release in 2022. That was surprising because they never did a proper tour in support of that record due to Baird’s health. Lead vocalist Alex Trimble sounded great, but the band as a whole didn’t move around that much and didn’t seem to have the same energy as their opener. That didn’t take away from the good time their fans were having though! Baird told the audience that they were happy to be in Buffalo for the first time ever, and had to be corrected because it turns out they had played in Buffalo years ago! Dancing and singing along in the pit, in the reserved seating, and on the grass was the rule rather than the exception with this crowd. It was still daylight halfway through their set and I’m not sure if that helped the crowd get into a party mood or took away from the club atmosphere. Either way, there was no doubt that everyone had a great time and were happy Two Door Cinema Club made their way to these parts once again.