Tokyo Police Club, The Whigs and The Coast The Ottobar,

Baltimore, Maryland, September 8th 2008 It’s always easy to forget how much fun indie shows are until you go back to one. This show at Baltimore’s Ottobar was no exception. Starting the night off well, we found a parking space right away and didn’t have to pay for it, which is a near impossibility in Baltimore. Kicking off the show was Toronto’s The Coast, who played about thirty minutes of fun, dancey indie-pop shoegaze. With jangley guitars, enthusiastic synth, swimming bass and disco beats galore, The Coast had the notoriously motionless indie music crowd dancing and clapping along the entire way through. It would have been great to see them play longer, but everyone seemed to have fun regardless. Playing second was The Whigs, hailing from Athens, Georgia. After a less then stellar opening song that sounded like an old Lou Reed b-side, they dove head on into set that alternated between sounding like a cranked up version of the Knack, early Foo Fighters and every awesome 1970s garage band. Despite only being a three piece band, the Whigs brought a thick, thumping sound, even though their bassist played keyboard for half of their set. Headlining the night was Tokyo Police Club with close to an hour of garage synth-pop. Easily holding their own with the great opening groups, Tokyo Police Club had the crowd in the palm of their collective hand. The entire audience shouted along with every song, danced, pumped fists and clapped along. The band looked to be honestly enjoying themselves, dancing along with the audience exuberantly, jumping around and chattering with the crowd. The group played a solid set of tried but always true indie rock, complete with dancing bass, buzzy keyboards, early 1960s style guitar twang, disco drums and sincere vocals and lyrics. The night was altogether a friendly and welcome amalgamation of an indie crowd (with requisite tight pants and neon clothing) and a packed nightclub (also with neon). Be sure to check out all three bands at tokyopoliceclub.com, thewhigs.com and thecoastmusic.com and look for a tour date near you. -Michael Kearney