Two Door Cinema Club + Citadels @ Hoxton Bar and Kitchen, London

There’s a time and a place to have a bit of a natter, Artrockers. A gig isn’t one of them.

It’s for this very reason that we feel a little sorry for Citadels. They are a band with bundles of energy and intricate songs that demand your attention; they should not be forced to become a backdrop for those sipping chardonnay and musing about whether or not they’d take one of the band members home.

It would have been easy to become disheartened by the milling crowd, but a brief foray into the masses with a floor tom certainly did Citadels’ cause no harm. As the set progressed, murmuring turned to appreciative silence and then rapturous adoration following the haunting performance of ‘Sons Of Clovis II’ - which, if you’re trying to win over a crowd, is a great weapon to have in your musical arsenal.

The night’s headliners, Two Door Cinema Club, suffered none of the same trials and tribulations - but then that’s what a meteoric rise to fame will do for you.

It’s truly amazing what three months and an album release can do for a band, but if a mass of fancy lighting rigs and a capacity crowd who know the words to every song are any kind of marker for success, then TDCC is right up there with the best of them.

This performance was as slick and polished as ever, and we can proudly (if not slightly smugly) report that they’re looking every inch the band we always knew they’d be.

Photo credit: Rory Carroll