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Written by Meghan Jones
Show Reviews
On Tuesday, March 10, the Parish Room at the House of Blues was uncharacteristically packed - sold out, in fact - with a crowd that was almost entirely between the ages of 18 and 22. The headlining band, Tokyo Police Club, is comprised of four college-aged guys from Ontario, and they definitely draw in a young crowd. The show as a whole was a celebration of youth: All three bands playing that night were young and fairly new, singing the kind of anthems that are especially poignant in one's college years and earlier.The first band on the schedule was Ruby Coast, an unsigned Candian band, and they were the perfect tie-in for the sounds of both Ra Ra Riot and Tokyo Police Club. Ra Ra Riot, despite the name, is beloved for its lush strings and soft, building intros, while Tokyo is known for speed, energy and high volumes. Ruby Coast had a good amount of both, and they did a great job warming up the stage and the crowd for the next two acts.
After a long time between sets, Ra Ra Riot came on stage unceremoniously and modest - they are still fairly new to this, after all - but the crowd squished and squeezed together to be as close to the front as possible. They're out promoting their album The Rhumb Line, which was released on Barsuk Records in August of last year, to much acclaim. Their sound is orchestral, with the female violinist and cellist well-rounding out the cast of usual characters, and as the strings swell in 
the middle of the songs, so do the listener's emotions. There is pop and happiness there, too, giving you something to dance to. Everything is capped off perfectly by the clarity of the singer's voice; when he sings, you believe anything he says about falling in love, having a broken heart or having a quarter-life crisis. And right in the middle of every song, everything kind of explodes into noisy chaos. Perfection.
Around 11:15, an audience member took to chanting "Tokyo, Tokyo, Tokyo..." during the break, and at 11:30, Tokyo Police Club took the stage. There was no messing around. Their first release, a seven song EP, lasted only 16 minutes, and their shows aim to keep up that same momentum. The quartet just learned how to play their instruments in 2004 - when they were seniors in high school - but they've covered a lot of ground in those five years, combining rowdy punk with a touch of prog rock and enough pop to keep it accessible. It's music to get pumped up to before a night out with your friends, the soundtrack to what will go down in history as the best house 
party ever and songs that celebrate being young and alive. The keyboardist/vocalist, Graham Wright, is that energy personified. He hunches over his keyboards with the intensity of a mad man, only to stand up straight on cue, lean into the microphone and yell his words full force. It's pretty incredible to watch, and as my friend said during the show, "He really is keeping his spirits high!"
The best part about the band, other than their limitless energy of course, is the fact that they're totally not buying into the rock and roll lifestyle that their rapid rise to fame could provide them. After every song, the lead singer Dave Monks had to stop to brush his crazy hair out of his eyes and take a swig from a plastic cup. Then he would assure the crowd that he was drinking "straight water." Yup, Tokyo Police club make excellent role models for their younger fans. But the music they play? It's perfect for everyone who's young, even if it's just at heart.
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