MOG

Well, that was much better. Back at the Manchester Central, which Bloc Party front-man Kele Okereke accurately described as both “an old train station” and “an empty air craft hanger”, the crowd were much better last night, with only a few flying cups of piss in the air, none of which (thankfully) got me. Support came from Foals – a type of math rock, dance punk and funk hybrid – who were a lot tighter and just plain better than when I saw them earlier in the year. Next up were The Cribs, who it seemed most of the teenage NME subscribers in the audience had turned out for. They quickly whipped the already enthusiastic crowd into a real frenzy, so much saw I had to remove myself to the sidelines afterwards, the strain of being crushed to pieces on Wednesday night at Arctic Monkeys finally catching up to me. I have no idea how good Bloc Party are supposed to be live, but believe me, last night they simply killed. They picked a great setlist made up of a surprising balance of both older and newer material, instead of simply ignoring the first album’s highlights to play the boring and bland Snow Patrol-lite stuff of the sophomore. The only noticeable exceptions were I Still Remember and The Pioneers. The tight post-punk of tracks like Positive Tension, Banquet and This Modern Love were transformed into full blown hand-clap and sing along anthems, crucially retaining the personal lyrics of emotion of the recorded version. Meanwhile, recent slower tracks like Waiting for the 7.18 and Sunday proved a nice break, whilst the rockier ones like Uniform got everyone moving again. Bloc Party’s current transformation into some sort of proper dance/rock hybrid was also present, with a laser projection backed performance of new single Flux and Kele’s demand that everyone “dance like you’re in a swanky club at 1am” for She’s Hearing Voices (although this was kinda undermined as Kele ditched his guitar to do the good ole’ rock “run to the barrier and meet the fans”). I’m not entirely convinced that Bloc Party are really suited to full on partying, when the best moments of the night came from sentimental tracks like So Here We Are and the full on rockers like Luno and Helicopter. But, if they do decide to keep the keyboard and strobe lights out, there was plenty of proof on offer last night that they’ll remain an energetic and fully entertaining live act.

Setlist (this may not be correct. I haven’t found a setlist online yet, but I’m fairly confident in it):

Song For Clay (Disappear Here) Positive Tension Blue Light Hunting For Witches Waiting For the 7.18 Banquet This Modern Love The Prayer Uniform So Here We Are Like Eating Glass Flux Sunday She's Hearing Voices Helicopter