Bloc Party / Metric

Support for the night came from Canadian band, Metric. The set was full of fairly strong pop tunes with 'Monster Hospital' being the highlight. Most importantly, lead singer Emily Haines probably has the best pair of legs on the concert circuit. Bassist Josh Winstead appeared to have turned up in his cricket whites. Not the most perceptive or insightful of snippets about Metric, I’m sure, but they were a good band and filled the time...

Bloc Party came to the stage with lead singer Kele Okereke grinning from ear to ear. He was wearing a T-Shirt saying either “BRING BACK GOD” or “BRING BACK COD”. I never did find out as his guitar was always tantalisingly placed just in the way. Either way, it’s a worthy cause. They started the night with ‘Song for Clay’ and it turned out to be a very sturdy set opener. ‘Song for Clay’ also happens to be the opening track on their imminent new album 'A Weekend in the City’. The song opens delicately before exploding into life as Kele shouts "East London is a vampire, sucks the life right out of me."

The set list was excellent with old and new songs mixing well. It probably wasn’t until 'Banquet' kicked in that the crowd went mad and the mosh pit swayed from side to side.

New single ‘The Prayer’ (which, coincidentally, is set to win them their highest chart position this weekend) was the only one of the new songs that received a great reception from the crowd but I felt that many of the other new tracks were equally strong. However, it is always the case that familiarity with material brings the most rapturous receptions. The Prayer proved this point as once again crowd participation heightened.

During the set Kele proved that he was still well in touch with his fans. Before ‘This Modern Love’ he dedicated the song to a chap called Tom Dunlop who was the birthday boy. I only remember this as Tom Dunlop was stood right beside me and I’ve never seen a young lad looking so happy. He soaked up the song and savoured every minute with the occasional “I love you Kele” breaking his trance.

‘This Modern Love’ was followed immediately by ‘Two More Years’ making a duo of pop perfection.

During the encore Gordon Moakes put down his bass guitar and sat next to Matt Tong on a second set of drums. I’m not too sure how this benefited the song but was very reminiscent of Radiohead’s Thom Yorke banging away on the drums during ‘There There’. Matt Tong does deserve a quick mention for his superb drumming. It’s not surprising that he once punctured a lung when you see the energy that he puts into Bloc Party’s music.

One slight complaint probably goes to the soundman who felt it necessary to hike up the volume just before the encore making songs such as ‘She’s Hearing Voices’ pretty hard to decipher.

All in all it was a top night at the Astoria. Bloc Party’s new material stood up well in comparison to the older material. Songs such as ‘Hunting for Witches’ and ‘Waiting for the 7:18’ are a match to anything on their first record and much of it has a more melodic edge. Bloc Party will be around for a long time to come and should be a band that everybody can enjoy.

Kele Okereke has finally found his feet on the big stage and from once being a shy and retiring front man he has transformed into a lead singer with great stage presence and even more importantly, he seems to be enjoying himself.

FUTURE GIGS

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