Tokyo Police Club blasts away the Algonquin Commons Theatre during final tour

For nearly two decades, Tokyo Police Club has delivered music from their hearts. From Newmarket, Ont., the indie rock band found success with five studio albums and two nominations for the Juno Awards.

In 2024, band members David Monks, Graham Wright, Josh Hook and Greg Alsop announced their breakup, and that they would do one final tour together to conclude “a f–king epic journey.”

On Nov. 22, Tokyo Police Club performed for hundreds of fans at the Algonquin Commons Theatre for their last show in Ottawa.

They opened with Favourite Food, and went on to play many of their greatest hits, including Centennial, Favourite Colour and Wait Up.

Just before they played Breakneck Speed, a fan was heard shouting, “We’ll miss you!” The band had the audience sing along for that one.

John Schaufer, a Lambton College alumni, was visiting from Chatham and realized the band was playing at the same time, so it worked perfectly for him. He has been a devoted Tokyo Police Club fan since 2010 — the band was one of the first he listened to.

“I bought tickets to Toronto for next week, and then I found out they were already up here so I was like, perfect,” Schaufer said. “I sold those tickets and said, I’m gonna see them up here.”

Tokyo Police Club merchandise was being sold outside the theatre, which many fans lined up for.

This wasn’t the band’s first performance at Algonquin College. According to Wright, they played in the cafeteria back in 2006 and did a show in the Observatory.

Connor Sunderland and Sophie Datt, third-year applied museum studies students from Algonquin College and unexpected Tokyo Police Club fans, went to the show because it was the only chance they had to see them live.

“I heard they were performing here and never really paid attention, but I heard the name before from a friend and really wanted to check them out and then realized I actually had them in some of my Spotify playlists,” Sunderland said.

Menno Versteeg, lead singer of the Ottawa-based band Hollerado, opened the show.

Hollerado broke up in 2019 but they reunited for one show at the college theatre the night before Tokyo Police Club took the stage.

The two bands are close, and Versteeg sees Tokyo Police Club ending as a step forward for that band.

“There’s always things around their (Tokyo Police Club’s) course, change is good,” Versteeg said outside of the theatre. “And they’ll probably come back in five years like we did anyway.”

Monks gave a shoutout to Hollerado and dedicated Hands Reversed to them. They went on to play more hits, including Frankenstein, Argentina (Parts I, II, III) and Bambi.

Toward the end, the band members waved goodbye to fans, who waved back, and gave a heartfelt thank you as they closed out with Your English is Good, which the crowd went wild for.

“We love you so much from the bottom of our hearts,” Monks said. “We love you, thank you, and goodbye.”