Two Door Cinema Club 'Tourist History' 15h Anniversary Tour
Crystal Palace Park, London - 26/06/2026
The 2010s indie scene has long soundtracked British summers, so there could hardly have been a more fitting lineup to mark the hottest June day on record than the one that filled Crystal Palace Park yesterday. Two Door Cinema Club and The Vaccines both turned the clock back to celebrate fifteen years of their respective debut albums, while James Marriott, Garage Flower and The Royston Club made the case for indie's exciting next wave on the same bill. It was a lineup that managed to honour the genre's past without ever feeling like a tribute act to it.
It was Two Door Cinema Club's 'Tourist History' anniversary celebrations that headlined the night, an album that still manages to sound as fresh now as it ever has. It was 'Cigarettes in the Theatre' that opened the show, much like on the record, kicking off a strong early run through some of the album's best songs. The likes of 'I Can Talk', 'Come Back Home' and 'Do You Want It All?' quickly followed, keeping the momentum building from the very first song. The atmosphere across the park was already at boiling point well before the band had played a note, but this opening stretch only sent the energy higher.
With a crowd that energetic, Two Door Cinema Club could afford to take a more straightforward approach, doing far less talking and letting the music carry the night instead. The production stayed fairly simple throughout too, with no grand visual spectacle needed to hold the crowd's attention. This is certainly not a negative, as it is the band's music that makes them so beloved and the songs sounded better than ever.
Even within an anniversary set, they found room across the twenty-track show for hits beyond 'Tourist History', with beloved tracks like 'New Houses' and 'Changing of the Seasons' slotted into the earlier section. The crowd lapped up every word, singing along as if their lives depended on it. However, it was the indie classic 'Undercover Martyn' which really took things to a new level near the end of the set. Tension built up through an extended introduction, meaning once that timeless instrumental started, blissful bedlam ensued, with Crystal Palace Park moving as a singular body of dancing limbs. This energy was kept right up until the closing track 'What You Know'. This felt like the only way the set could have ended, a song that has soundtracked festival fields for well over a decade now and one fully deserving of closing out such an iconic headline slot. Fifteen years in, Two Door Cinema Club remain every bit as vital as they were the day they first arrived, and yesterday's crowd left having created an atmosphere that will be difficult to top at any of the Crystal Palace Park dates still to come.
Two Door Cinema Club were not the only act marking fifteen years of a debut album at Crystal Palace Park, with The Vaccines celebrating the anniversary of 'What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?' They have always had a reputation as a tight live act, but as a first time seeing them I was genuinely shocked at just how closely the recordings translated to the stage. For a moment I wondered if Justin Hayward-Young was miming, he sounded that similar to the record. He was not. The band are simply that good live. Even as the set progressed and they brought in a slight rawness to the live performance, that only pushed the crowd's energy even higher.
Much like Two Door Cinema Club, these songs have become synonymous with summer and festival season, but that is not to reduce The Vaccines to just a festival band. The size of the crowd and the response to every song was comparable to that of the night's headliner and they would not have looked out of place in that position themselves. This was the case for their full set, with newer cuts like 'Heartbreak Kid' and unreleased track 'Ten Years Too Far' drawing reactions comparable to some of the evening's biggest songs, a reminder that this is a band still very much moving forward.
The act that started my afternoon, though, was 2025's SBTM Solo Artist of the Year, James Marriott, whose musical rise over the past few years has been nothing short of deserved, but yet still managed to blow me away live. He promised a set built around "the bangers" and delivered far beyond that promise, turning a field crowding desperately for any patch of shade into one that was up on its feet dancing through the heat regardless. His vocals stayed razor sharp throughout, with the chemistry between Marriott and his live band giving every song an extra edge. Newer material carried just as much weight as anything else in the set, with 'California Rain' and unreleased track 'Burn Down the Disco' both receiving huge responses. The love for Grapes remains as strong as ever too, making for arguably the day's best closing moment given the response it pulled from the crowd. It feels very clear from this set that James Marriott will be headlining nights like this in no time.
The day's bill stretched well beyond these three acts, with The Royston Club and Garage Flower opening proceedings and setting an early tone that the rest of the day comfortably built on. Elsewhere, Climate Live also made its presence felt with a string of standout sets. Sacha T delivered stellar vocals in the blazing sun, overcoming a handful of technical difficulties dealt with quickly and professionally, while HotWax closed out the bus-top stage with a rapturous headline set. On a day already packed with brilliant music, it was a reminder there was just as much worth catching away from the main stage, and from an organisation making a real difference.
Crystal Palace Park's run of summer shows continues at pace too, with Kneecap and The Offspring both due to play the venue this coming weekend.