Kicking off the first of two weekends of this year’s Crystal Palace Park Series, Two Door Cinema Club celebrated their return to London with a triumphant commemoration of their iconic debut album, Tourist History.
In a display of calm confidence, as if to say, ‘Relax, let the music do the talking’, the Northern Irish trio had literally thousands of loyal fans echoing every single word, proof that even the deepest cuts from their discography hold a special place in listeners’ hearts over 15 years on.
The hottest June day on record set a perfect– albeit, sweaty– scene as indie fans flooded out of Crystal Palace station and up the path for the short journey to the park. Many were already donning the starkly Irish green-and-orange Tourist History anniversary football shirts, the buzz building at the gates in the early afternoon, though there were still more than six hours until the main event took to the stage.
Starting proceedings were Garage Flower, a fairly new, young band out of Leeds that commanded the huge stage with an impressive confidence. Although technical problems disrupted the start of their set, they stayed cool, with their bassist and drummer carrying a funky Stone Roses-esque rhythm until frontman Nathan Whitehead could get things underway with his passionate vocals and emphatic guitar play.
There was a real energy to these lads, embracing their opportunity, and Yorkshire parallels aside, they reminded me a lot of early Arctic Monkeys with a huge focus on individual instrumentation and rawness. Having only had their first London headline two months ago, their growth is rapid, so don’t be surprised if you start seeing their flashy purple logo across indie festival posters more often.
Next up, and surprisingly low on the bill, were the scene’s current favourite sweethearts, The Royston Club, for whom the crowd built up almost immediately. From the first twinges of the Wrexham boys’ guitar on Shivers, hands were in the air and Welsh flags waving, the instant ensemble of fans lending their voices to the opening lines– an echo of ‘Time slips away!’– quickly setting the tone for the rest of the set.
Favourites like I’m a Liar, Blisters, and 52 from 2023’s Shaking Hips and Crashing Cars had the whole crowd bouncing, interspersed between some of their biggest hits from last year’s Songs For The Spine. They’re such a sonically refreshing band, somehow perfectly suited for these sort of festival bangers but simultaneously intimate in their style and lyricism.
Despite managing to cram in ten songs, 45 minutes just didn’t feel like enough, with Tom Faithfull’s sincere thanks to the crowd (even, at one point, singling out a fan who had done the ‘highest jump I’ve ever seen!’) rounding out the act before one last tune that everyone seemed to be anticipating. Cariad, which ended the set, invited an ocean of waving hands and a thunder of voices, particularly during its emotional final bridge, the ballad getting the warmest reception of the afternoon yet.
As half an hour passed, a new crowd gathered, and James Marriott, well dressed for the heat in a vest, shorts and baseball cap, arrived to a huge cheer from the audience. He quickly launched into his 1975-like intro, the synth-based Ventriloquist a welcome shift in sound to the rockier music we’d had so far through the afternoon.
Anyone who hasn’t been keeping tabs on Marriott’s musical progression would have been pleasantly surprised by the complete performer he’s become since the early days of Slow Down, his first single released during the pandemic in 2020. His 11-track, 45-minute set bounced from earlier tunes like Sleeping On Trains and Him to picks from last year’s widely successful album, Don’t Tell The Dog, which showed off just how much he’s improved vocally and as a performer.
Following a rendition of January release California Rain, which he joked he hoped might be a raindance to clear the hot air, fans were treated to an unreleased song in Burn Down The Disco, before getting to sing along to three of his most successful tunes in I Don’t Want To Live Like This Anymore, Toothache, and Grapes, the last of which was audibly a crowd hit.
What really stood out to me about this set was how comfortable he looked as someone who’s only recently broken out of his core audience circle, seamlessly slotting into this megastar lineup. James Marriott has excelled far beyond the ‘YouTuber that makes music’ label; there’s a real purpose, a feeling, behind these songs, and the conviction and bravado with which they were performed makes that doubly clear.
The Vaccines followed, joining the headliners in performing plenty of tracks from their own debut album, What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?, to commemorate 15 years since its release.
This was the second time I’ve seen The Vaccines live, funnily enough also supporting Two Door Cinema Club at this very venue in 2023, and they were just as impressive as they were three years ago.
Kicking things off with Blowing It Up, frontman Justin Hayward-Young commanded the rapidly growing turnout with ease, its grungy opening guitar notes and easily picked-up chorus quickly creating an anthemic festival singalong. Rattling then through eight of their first album’s high-energy tracks like Wreckin’ Bar (Ra Ra Ra) and Norgaard, you could see why this Vaccines-Two Door combination works so well, complementing each other’s styles brilliantly.
Halfway through the set came If You Wanna, by far their most well-known tune. Expectedly, it was a crowd success, Hayward-Young’s vocals drowned out by the thousands bouncing on the field below him and chanting along to the indie classic’s iconic guitar solo. Then came songs from some of their other collections, favourites like I Always Knew and closing track All My Friends Are Falling In Love transforming each member of the crowd into a Vaccines bandmate in their own right. Fans even got a sneak peek at the unreleased Ten Years Too Far, such newer cuts resonating just as effectively as the oldies.
While so many indie bands struggle to find, and then hold on to, their space in the limelight, the almost pop-like conviction The Vaccines display is the reason they’re still smashing it at events across the country 15 years later. Catchy guitar riffs, electrifying stage presence, and festival-perfect songwriting; it’s impossible not to find yourself buying in and singing along.
With the heat backing down just a little as the sun hinted at retreating behind the huge pylon to the West (affectionately dubbed ‘The Eiffel Tower’ by many fans online afterwards), the collection of festivalgoers anticipating the evening’s headliners grew to its peak. From my standing place, you literally couldn’t see any green across the entirety of Crystal Palace Park, which had become a sea of bucket hats and Hawaiian shirts, beckoning Northern Ireland’s finest to the stage.
Tourist History’s opening track, Cigarettes in the Theatre, was also their choice to open the set, the banjo-esque twinge cutting through the crowd, a stark silence falling as everyone turned their attention to the group in their trademark shirts and blazers. Front and centre, singer and guitarist Alex Trimble looked right at home.
Anyone not familiar with Two Door Cinema Club’s debut album still would’ve been able to enjoy every second of the set that followed. From I Can Talk and Come Back Home to the simplistic Do You Want It All?, the momentum didn’t drop, cementing themselves as the ultimate feel-good summer band.
There are these rare special moments that only seem to crop up at festivals and shows like this, where for a moment every person at the venue forgets everything that may be going on in their personal lives, work or home. During This Is The Life, it really felt like one of those moments, as if by singing those very words in the chorus, they were speaking them into existence: a warm day and great tunes, everyone united as one. That’s the sort of culture Two Door Cinema Club have fostered over the last 15 years, and it was immense to experience that in person once more.
The first notes of Something Good Can Work somehow reignited an already lively crowd in the first half of the 20-song bill, the trio then having plenty of time to launch into hits from the rest of their stacked discography. Sleep Alone, Handshake and Next Year from 2012’s Beacon took the music in more of an electro-pop direction, seamlessly carrying the audience through the setlist as the dark began to settle in.
Interestingly, there wasn’t much to the production side of things: minimal staging, nothing too ambitious with lighting or graphics, and really much said by the band, but it didn’t need it. That became apparent by the time Undercover Martyn hit the speakers, the fans still carrying the highest energy of any crowd I’ve been a part of despite it nearing 10 p.m, eight hours after gates opened.
And of course, rounding off the set was a song British summertime just isn’t complete without, a staple of every indie playlist; What You Know had some 25,000 festivalgoers throwing their hands in the air and hollering those iconic opening notes. Set against a neon backdrop that screamed ‘We’re turning back the clock’, Alex Trimble needn’t have bothered singing; it was the track everyone had been waiting for, saved best til last.
Two Door Cinema Club continue their 15th Anniversary Tour throughout Europe, Malaysia, Australia and North America through the rest of the year, wrapping up with more European dates in early 2027.
