NOTE: All photos are copyright of Howard Shiau Photography 2025
The Tokyo Police Club are breaking up. Yes, it’s true. After twenty years as one of the bands you immediately think of when you say “indie rock” and not having released new music since 2018, they have decided to call it quits. Living in NYC during the aughts, it felt like you couldn’t go for a couple of months without hitting another Tokyo Police Club show with friends. The announcement of their retirement came in January and they indicated they would be playing their farewell show at History in Toronto on November 29th. The response from their fans was immediate and that show sold out so quickly that they decided to add another show, which also sold out right away. Well, maybe it won’t be such a quick farewell. In the end, they scheduled a full blown “The Final Tour” across North America which will conclude with FOUR shows at History! Everyone’s favorite indie rock band would get the farewell they deserve. On October 8th, they stopped at Town Ballroom in Buffalo.
Opening for TPC was another Toronto band Born Ruffians who had also toured with Tokyo Police Club in the early days. It’s like we’ve gone back twenty years in time! Born Ruffians have kept busy, continuing to release new music; their last trio of albums “JUICE”, “SQUEEZE”, and “PULP” coming out in 2020 and 2021. They also just released a new single “What a Ride” a couple of weeks ago. They played what seemed like a really quick eleven song set but, as they say, what a ride! Lead vocalist/guitarist Luke Lalonde was great but bassist Mitch DeRosier and keyboardist Maddy Wilde provided the energy, bouncing around the stage behind Lalonde like there was no tomorrow! Fun set!
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Interestingly, while Born Ruffians had a banner behind them on stage, Tokyo Police Club just had light bulbs placed at various parts of the stage. When Tokyo Police Club finally took the stage, I did a double take. Frontman Dave Monks had a mohawk, was wearing a choker, and had glitter under his eyes! Was our indie rocker going punk glam?!?! Then the band kicked off the show with “Argentina” and all was well. When they said it would be a farewell tour, they were going to give their fans everything they had. This meant a twenty one song set through their discography, especially the early stuff. That doesn’t even include the acoustic solo songs that Monks did towards the end of the set. It was really great to hear some of the old standards again. The only thing notable song missing was “Your English is Good”. But it was a fun night and wonderful to see these guys one last time before they ride off into the sunset. One last time to see Dave’s smile as he sings, Josh fighting with his guitar, Graham bouncing around the stage, Greg looking so chill as he’s banging away at the drums, and the wonderful interaction between the band members! So good! You have under the end of November to catch them!
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They did play Your English is Good as the last song of the Encore.
Huh, looks like my memory lost it.
I was hoping they’d end it with Hang Your Heart but the crowd probably enjoyed this more lol