Tokyo Police Club: Live at Whelan's

Canadian indie rockers Tokyo Police Club returned to the Emerald Isle to showcase their latest album, the incredibly catchy Forcefield. Emerging onstage to a jam-packed Whelan’s crowd, the boys opt to get stuck right in with its eight-minute opener, ‘Argentina Parts 1, 11 & 111’. Though it’s an indulgent way to start, the crowd doesn’t seem to mind.

For the most part, TPC are all singalong powerpop and catchy riffs, with frontman David Monks’ casual chit-chat endearing the act further to their fans. “I was actually born in the Rotunda,” the Ontario man declares at one point, which goes down a storm with this Dublin crowd. Sure aren’t all the good ones Irish!?

Highlights include ‘Toy Guns’, ‘Frankenstein’ and ‘Tessellate’ – taken from 2008’s Elephant Shell and given a vulnerable, stripped-back, mic-less makeover. Elsewhere, there’s more than a whiff of US college rock about ‘Hot Tonight’, and set closer – another Elephant Shell number – ‘Your English Is Good’. In all, it’s a fun and entertaining night.