REVIEW: Two Door Cinema Club @ MGM Music Hall 9/29
Photo Credit: Mike Coppola
Review by Simone DiNota
It’s been 15 years since the release of “Tourist History,” the debut album that put Northern Irish rock band Two Door Cinema Club (TDCC) on the map. After releasing a deluxe edition in 2025, the band is embarking on the North American leg of its anniversary tour, playing feel-good hits from its first album and career that are impossible not to love.
UK-based Friendly Fires and Portland-based STRFKR opened the tour’s Boston show at MGM Music Hall. Friendly Fires felt a bit more alternative than TDCC, but STRFKR bordered on experimental, with immersive, dreamlike production elements that included lighting projections of floating eyes and two backup dancers dressed as astronauts, one of whom crowd-surfed.
A hush fell over the crowd as a montage of past performance introductions played through the speakers, keeping the band’s 15-year history at the forefront of the performance. Then, lead singer Alex Trimble, guitarist Sam Halliday and bassist Kevin Baird took the stage, along with two supporting band members on the drums and keys.
Supporting band members were positioned on top of a platform, and light boxes glowed with vibrant colors behind them, shifting based on the mood of each song. Though Trimble, Halliday and Baird could have been more mobile on the floor of the stage, they generally stayed in their respective corners. The audience, on the other hand, clapped, jumped and danced throughout the performance.
The group opened with “Cigarettes in the Theatre,” a track where fast-paced guitar at the verses played in conversation with Trimble’s resounding vocals, while the chorus effortlessly blended joyful keys and synths.
“This Is the Life” was a nice contrast. With a slower, steadier tempo, guitar that felt equally powerful but more expressive and a refreshingly simple repeated lyric, the song felt like the backing track you’d want in the trailer of your life.
Before performing “Something Good Can Work,” which had the audience pointing to the sky on the lyric “It’s only going up,” the band shouted out Boston’s hospitality.
The Boston audience returned the compliment, showing the band the same support when they played newer tracks like “Wonderful Life” from their 2022 album, “Keep On Smiling” and “Kids,” which was released on “Tourist History (Deluxe Edition)” in 2025.
Though the crowd’s energy never dipped, “Undercover Martyn” was a standout performance. The audience went wild as the stage lights suddenly went out, then flashed back on when Halliday started strumming the song’s familiar guitar line.
“What You Know,” the band’s most well-known song, closed out the show with a bang. Pink, yellow and red lighting drenched the stage in a sunset-like glow as Trimble paused to let the audience scream the lyrics in his place.
There’s something special about this track because, despite its upbeat musical feel, it never quite resolves itself. The lyrics of the chorus, “And I can’t say it’s what you know, but you’ve known it the whole time,” contradict each other. The guitar line sounds like it’s reaching for something it never gets. And the song’s final note establishes an air of uncertainty.
At this anniversary concert, TDCC reflected on their own uncertainty when they first started out as a group of high school friends playing out of a garage.
Fifteen years later, “Tourist History” still unites audiences with its irresistible playfulness. I’m excited to see where the next 15 years will take this powerhouse of a band.