Dave Monks of Tokyo Police Club. Photo by Spencer Kornhaber.

Expect to clap a lot at a Tokyo Police Club show. You’ll probably clap for the opening acts a few times. You’ll clap when TPC’s drummer Greg Alsop comes on stage to move his set around. You’ll clap when the lights dim. You’ll clap when TPC take the stage. You’ll clap after every frantic song. You’ll clap during a lot of the tunes, because the band loads their songs up with hand claps and moments where hand claps would make sense. And, at the end, you’ll clap for a great show by an energized young band who remind us seeing certain bands live really are a better option than spinning their CDs.

Once-loved blog darlings Tokyo Police Club have faced a small wave of indie disappointment with the release of their debut full-length Elephant Shell. NBN’s own glossy magazine criticized the band, saying TPC’s latest effort exemplifies the idea “people say all indie rock sounds the same.” The review goes on, rightfully, to criticize the group’s frequent use of hand claps and chants, writing that “they sound tired.” And, on record, they do. But that’s because we don’t see three members of Tokyo Police Club leap forward to scream into microphones on record. Call claps and shouts cliché, but TPC’s show at Metro Monday buzzed with energy thanks to those staples.

Tokyo Police Club’s songs are short bursts of post-punk hiding wordy lyrics beneath. The band translates the furious punch of their songs well live, nailing all the intricacies of their numbers without sacrificing forwards momentum. A flurry of backing lights didn’t hurt, the ever-changing colors adding a great visual touch to the show, second only to seeing TPC execute the small details of their songs. On Elephant Shell, the clapping on “In A Cave” and the shouts of “hey!” on “Sixties Remake” seem forced, unique-for-indie’s sake. Live, though, their furious hand smacking and unison screaming is built on pure energy, a band doing what they love and roping the audience into the fun.

The crowd ate it up. Elephant Shell hit shelves only last week, but most people crowding the Metro sung along to every word as if they nabbed the album three months ago (curse you, downloading!). Tokyo Police Club looked best when they got the crowd going full-force. The easily shouted opening to “Your English Is Good” becomes even better when the audience spouts the words right back at the band before they hit the meat of the song. Likewise, the repeated bellows of “Tokyo Police Club!” in “Cheer It On” work great in concert, as does the chorus to Elephant Shell’s “Nursery Academy.” And “Nature of the Experiment,” the group’s best song to date, lit a firecracker under even the stiffest concert-goer, the song’s sci-fi tinged guitars and breathless pace inescapable.

Tokyo Police Club cover up their weaknesses pretty well live, sometimes transforming so-so songs into much better beasts in person. “Juno’s” Sufjan-aping bells were replaced with gentle synth blasts, while encore-song “The Harrowing Adventures Of…” also ditched a lame bell opening in favor of an acoustic guitar intro that was immensely better. The one weakness TPC can’t cover up as well are their too-smart-for-their-own-good lyrics, especially on the Elephant Shell cuts. Sometimes, the awesome sound makes up for the meh lyrics; see “In A Cave’s” awesome melody more then making up for a line like “elephant shell / your my cave and I’ve been hiding out.” But other times, it isn’t enough, as is the case with the otherwise pretty “Centennial,” which was marred by lame lyrics. And, in the future, TPC probably shouldn’t write a catchy song with the chorus “dead lovers salivate / broken hearts tessellate tonight.” Nobody can shout along to that, because it’s just too wordy.

Vocabulary miscues aside, Tokyo Police Club presented plenty of reasons the indie world shouldn’t abandon them. They showed Monday that their songs can brim with energy live, even if they sound a bit tame on record. But they are young and have time to figure out how to translate a charged live show onto CD. Plus, they have fans clapping them on to success.