Toronto closed the book on a piece of Canadian indie rock history on Friday (Nov. 29) at History.
Tokyo Police Club wrapped up their career with four sold-out hometown shows at the 2,500-capacity venue.
The audience was packed with friends and fans from throughout the band's nearly 20-year-career, along with their own family. It felt like an '00s indie rock reunion.
The band ripped through 29 songs from their whole catalogue: from their early days as a group of teenagers in a buzz band to their mid-2010s commercial radio high point with their poppiest track "Hot Tonight" and into their final days as indie rock veterans.
It was an emotional night, with the band reminiscing throughout the night about their eventful career. The band has lived through multiple eras of Canadian music, from a Myspace band getting hype on blogs to streaming-era veterans. They've released albums on some big indie labels, including Mom + Pop and Dine Alone.
Tokyo Police Club's Graham Wright has recently launched a new podcast called Major Label Debut, examining the precarious dichotomy between art and commerce through the lens of his favourite bands' first major label albums. Tokyo Police Club had some big commercial highs, appeared on Letterman and won multiple Junos and other awards, but though they flirted with majors they never directly signed to one. That likely let them maintain their personal connection to their longtime fans, who showed up in droves for these final shows.
Tokyo Police Club at History in Toronto on Nov. 29, 2024.Corey Chaltas/Live Nation
That personal connection is what they emphasized throughout the night.
"We put our whole selves into this," said lead singer Dave Monks at one point in the show, choking up as he said it. "It's been everything."
Wright told stories of locations that had been meaningful to the band, which rose from his friendship with Monks that went back to primary school. There was "Dave's garage," "Craig's car," "Josh's basement" and Graham and Dave's bus stop in Newmarket, where Monks walked extra far so they could spend extra moments hanging out. It was there that Wright found a fake wooden guitar left over from a Halloween costume that he used to practice his rock star moves in his bedroom, moves he broke out for his band's swan song.
They were joined by their former labelmates and longtime friends Born Ruffians, another '00s rock band who outlasted their initial hype to carve out a long and consistent career. Like Tokyo Police Club, the solid songcraft and melodies outlived the buzz, the stretchy comparisons to the Strokes and Animal Collective, and formed a dedicated fanbase that's followed them for years.
The music industry has been upended multiple times since the 2000s, making it harder for a mid-level band to succeed, but both bands showed that they can achieve longevity by staying sincere and maintaining a connection to their loyal audience.
Tokyo Police Club wrote about persistence and staying true to yourself despite your failures on the 2018 anti-folk song "Ready To Win" — complete with a mid-song instruction to "shake hands with someone you'll probably forget." Monks' acoustic version at History felt like a bittersweet eulogy, a mini moral to the Tokyo Police Club story:
"I stand on a river, I stand on a stage /Hoping for glory, or maybe today/ 'Cause it's all a mistake, and a beautiful mess/ Like your next door neighbour when you saw him undress/ And I'll do it forever, do nothing but fail/ A student of error who can only prevail...But now, I am ready to win."
Moving into the encore section of the set, Monks asked the audience to take a moment to do a literal wave goodbye, and everyone both onstage and in the crowd raised their hands to oblige.
Tokyo Police Club at History in Toronto on Nov. 29, 2024.Corey Chaltas/Live Nation
As crowdsurfers hoisted themselves on their friends' shoulders, some likely for the first time in years, Tokyo Police Club played their final songs then joined together in one final Metallica-style side-hug and bow.
Check out the setlist below:
‘Favourite Food’
‘Favourite Colour’
‘Breakneck Speed’
‘Wait Up (Boots Of Danger)’
‘Centennial’
‘In A Cave’
‘Juno’
‘Sixties Remake’
‘New Blues’
‘Simple Dude’
‘Pigs’
‘Hang Your Heart’
‘Hands Reversed’
‘Gone’
‘Bambi’
‘Frankenstein’
‘Nature Of The Experiment’
‘Citizens Of Tomorrow’
‘Listen To The Math’
‘Tessellate’
‘A Lesson In Crime’
‘The Harrowing Adventures Of…’
‘Ready To Win’
‘Argentina (Parts I, II, III)’
‘Hot Tonight’
‘Box’
‘Cheer It On’
‘Your English Is Good’
‘End Of A Spark’
Aya NakamuraMarion Gomez/Billboard France