BLOC PARTY @ EMOS (SHOW REVIEW)
For being a self-admitted shy guy, lead singer Kele Okereke has done very little to stay out of the British and American tabloids since his band, Bloc Party, went on hiatus back in 2009. Since the hiatus, Kele has self-produced two electronic solo albums, come out to a magazine on his homosexuality, started his own photo blog (iamkele.com), feuded with Oasis, and moved to Manhattan from his hometown London. A notorious workaholic, Kele, seems to be restlessly searching for a sense of his self as a pop icon, sex symbol, and musician. The reformation of Bloc Party in 2011 and their consequent 2012 album, Four, has resulted in another attempt for Bloc Party to redefine their sound with a new genre or style while simultaneously scraping the nostalgia barrel for the frenetic Brit-Pop gold that sent them soaring into the indie stratosphere with 2005’s, Silent Alarm.
Touring on their aptly named fourth album, Four, Bloc Party is once again trying in vain to reach the high watermark they left with Silent Alarm. Their second and third albums, A Weekend In The City and Intimacy, were decent, but had nowhere near the impact their debut had. Four seems to be heading to a similar fate. Where Bloc Party had experimented with electronic components with their previous two albums, they have adopted an almost post-hardcore sound, akin to Finch or Glassjaw, for some of their new album’s tracks. The new sound claims success in a few songs like ‘Octopus’ and ‘V.A.L.I.S’ but the overall feel sounds uncommitted and washed out.
Bloc Party may not have played in Austin since 2009, but the sellout crowd at Emo’s East yesterday night was proof enough that they hadn’t lost any favor with their Texan fans. The Chevin, another alternative British indie band that in all likeliness probably learned their instruments playing Bloc Party songs, was a strong opening act that set a Brit-Pop mood for the large crowd that had gathered. Although the whole venue was buzzing in anticipation for Bloc Party’s renowned live show, one could also detect that most people had come solely to hear songs off Silent Alarm, which was the soundtrack to many people’s lives in 2006, including my own.
My suspicions were confirmed as Bloc Party assumed the stage and launched into their set with a couple of songs off their new album that barely registered with the crowd. It wasn’t until the third song, ‘Positive Tension’, a Silent Alarm song, did the crowd spring to life, as if they had suddenly realized this was the band they had paid forty dollars to see. Despite the crowd’s lack of enthusiasm for Bloc’s lesser known songs, the live performance was didn’t disappoint.
Kele dominated the stage in every song, letting his Cockney-accented whelps flutter over whirring guitars, while Matt Tong drummed each song like an energizer bunny on amphetamines. The set was powerful and driving, each song immediately followed the next with the crescendos coming whenever a Silent Alarm song like ‘Helicopter’, ‘This Modern Love’ , or ‘Banquet’ was played. Kele even stepped out of his shell to endear himself to the Austin crowd claiming “This was where it all started, when we played SXSW, after our first release. So thank you Austin”
After all of the drama pertaining to the band’s breakups, side projects, and even auditions for a new singer, it was encouraging to see the band grasp each other in a unified bow to the crowd
Bloc Party blasted through an impressive 18-song set including two encores, that put the cherry on top of their North American tour. While the band is in no danger of losing their edge as far as their live performances, their voyage of self-discovery and experimentation into different genres and sounds have left many Bloc Party fans alienated. Which now begs the question- How many years have to pass until the band can return on a “Bloc Party does Silent Alarm Tour”? Next year? Maybe? Please?
