Freelance Whales and Tokyo Police Club Heat Up Neumo's [Photo Gallery]

Though it's cooled off considerably now, Monday night a hot and sweaty Neumo's played host to a packed crowd for Freelance Whales and Tokyo Police Club.  I've seen both bands before, and came in to the show with my own preconceptions.  While I feel that Freelance Whales has its moments, some of their lyrics are downright cringeworthy, and while they've got good chops, the lead singer is so overtly geeky that it is occasionally painful.  As in, I ache for him, not with him.  Our own Josh is much more generous: Freelance Whales remain one of those bands with acres of potential. I mean, aside from the player-hater lyric, that song ["Hannah"] is fine Mates of States-ish girl/boy vocals. Tons of people seemed genuinely entranced. To the point of arm-dancing even!

As to Tokyo Police Club, the first time I saw them is going on four years ago (!), and oh, how much the boys have grown.  As in, now the Ontario quartet can legally drink--but they have just as much energy as ever. They brought the clap-happy super-short songs from their first two EPs, as well as the (relatively) more mature work from their two full-lengths, including new album Champ's near pitch-perfect, near power ballad "Breakneck Speed." Says Josh: I very much appreciated how well suited the venue was for that band. They really brought it, light and soundwise, in a way that few other mid-level indie rockers do.

Surprisingly, there were a lot of bros at the show (some of whom should've been straight-up iced), so I'm guessing that the TPC discography is getting heavy airplay at the frat house.  Keeping with that bro theme, the band itself always has some tender bro-to-bro moments (broments), and Monday night's show was no exception, as it included some guitar playing to each other whilst on bended knee, as well as a playful cross-stage tambourine toss.

One final note: Tokyo Police Club knows how to encore.  They closed with their theme song "Cheer It On" (and seriously, more bands need a song where they yell their name in the chorus), which was preceded by Weezer's "My Name is Jonas." For the record, if any other bands want to start doing Blue Album Weezer covers (or even a show consisting of the entire album start to finish), please go right ahead--as an audience, we will graciously oblige you by losing our shit.