Doubtlessly one of the most bittersweet moments in the festival's storied history, Rifflandia 2024 launched the final tour of Newmarket, ON's favourite indie band. As Tokyo Police Club head out on the road with their buddies Born Ruffians to take a victory lap across Canada and the US, anyone who didn't already know wouldn't have guessed that this was a band on their last legs, judging by their performance. They were great on stage together.
Vocalist and bassist Dave Monks noted that the band had played Rifflandia on a previous occasion, and loved it, although I'm guessing the weather was nicer that year and the band weren't breaking up at that point. TPC haven't released a full-length record since 2018, which projects to be their final studio album. They did put out a single in 2024 to mark the event, though, giving their fans "Just a Scratch" and "Catch Me If You Can" to remember them by.
Granted, the Canadian quartet did take a few songs to get rolling this evening. At first, mustachioed keyboardist Graham Wright was just kind of staring off into the middle distance, stage-left, with his back to the rest of the band, while guitarist Josh Hook seemed lost in his own little world stage-right. It wasn't until Wright picked up a guitar for a song about feeling like crud, "New Blues" from 2018's TPC, that he really started going. He ended up being the most dynamic performer on the stage, leaning into his riffs and running around, psyching up his bandmates. Hook seemed to loosen up in response. Eventually, they all swarmed around understated drummer Greg Alsop, before presumably doing a mental "go team!" cheer, and breaking up the huddle.
Wright put an unfathomable amount of sass into his tambourine and keyboard hook for "Bambi" from their 2010 album Champ, while Monks later encouraged the crowd to join in to flesh out the hook to "Wait Up (Boots of Danger)." The line "I want you wearing white / I want you in a frame / Nothing but a T-shirt / Dancing in the rain" from "Simple Dude" had extra resonance in the Victoria drizzle. Ultimately, they came off like a happier Placebo.
In the preamble leading to a particularly stirring rendition of "Frankenstein," during which Monks put down his bass and emoted into the microphone for all his worth, he said, "Thank you, Victoria. And thank you for being Tokyo Police Club enjoyers perhaps, Tokyo Police Club record havers maybe, T-shirt wearers. If you're new to Tokyo Police Club, welcome to this special moment in our journey."
Certainly, for old fans and new, it felt like a special moment that we were lucky to be invited to witness. Tokyo Police Club were a good band with a genuine presence, and they deserve a nice ride into the sunset. Take a well-earned bow, boys.