Bloc Party @ Congress Theatre
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Artist:
While I'm writing reviews, I should get this one out too. :) I spent last night in Chicago again. Yes, this makes for a long and tiring week. But you do what you have to do. Last night was Bloc Party at the "Congress Theater.":http://www.congresschicago.com/virtualtour.asp The place was huge. I mean, it is one of the largest venues I've ever been in. It was a very old theater that had all the old floor seats removed. There was also a balcony that wrapped around 3/4 of the floor section. The place has faded from its former glory, but it must have been beautful in its day. And, as large as the place was, it was also packed. It wasn't lean-on-the-person-in-front-of-you packed, but it was close. The sound was a bit off because everything echoed so much. I don't think standing where I was helped any either, because I was directly under a huge dome in the ceiling (about 30 foot up) and it was concentrating the sound a lot. Two opening bands last night too. The first was Sebastian Grainger. The second band was Albert Hammond Jr. This band played a really good set. Three guitars, a bass and a drummer is a hard sound to pull off without just making a lot of noise. This band pulled it off in grand style. You can still hear a lot of the Strokes in his music, but that's a plus in my book. If you haven't checked them out yet. Do it. Their album gets a US release this month.At 9 (must be something magic about this time) Bloc Party took the stage. They started the show with A Song for Clay (still my favorite from the new album) and then pounded out a lot of the songs I really love. They played for about and hour and 20 minutes in total; including two encores. About the middle of the set, they slowed things down a lot and played a few songs I don't care for. In the end though, they played nearly every song from Silent Alarm and all the ones I like from Weekend in the City. If there was a disappointment (well one would be not standing closer), it would be that they didn't play any of the B-sides. I was really hoping to hear England. After the first encore, most everyone left. But Kele was in a great mood and the crowd was really into it, and I had noticed him talking to everyone before leaving the stage. So, I got to get to almost the very front for the final song of the night. :) I've seen a few shows in my time, but Block Party had one of the most amazing light shows I've ever seen. All in all, a great show. But, two trips to Chicago in one week is a lot. 12 hours of driving is a lot of time for someone who's job isn't driving. As much as I like seeing bands, I gotta limit myself to one out-of-town show a week.
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