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ACL: Bloc Party
South London indie rock/post-punk band Bloc Party — singer/guitarist Kele Okereke, guitarist Russell Lissack, bassist Gordon Moakes and drummer Matt Tong — seem to be in the good graces of the gods of rock ‘n’ roll. Their first ACL show two years ago turned into an evening scene stealer that ended up being the largest audience they’d played to up to that point. This year’s performance was equally graced as the band’s audience swelled to what appeared to be more than 30,000 people as they raced through the most danceable songs from the two critically acclaimed albums, “Silent Alarm” and “A Weekend In The City.”
Bloc Party’s sound mix suffered from the lack of a sound check until their third song, the new wave/no wave “Hunting For Witches.” Like all good bandleaders, Okereke kept on smiling with his bravest face, amping up the audience’s disposition with comic between-song banter until his band’s mix was clear and strong enough to do all the talking.
Okereke and band definitely played to their strengths; they didn’t waste any time with ballads or down tempo draggers. “Song For Clay (Disappear Here)” and “Waiting For The 7.18” proved to be the strongest audience pleasers of all their new songs. And then the diehard fans packed in like sardines near the front of the stage appeared to almost spontaneously combust when the band played their older hits, “This Modern Love,” “Positive Tension” and their tour de force anthem, “Like Eating Glass.”
Since I initially heard their debut album “Silent Alarm,” I’ve been preaching to anyone who will listen that Bloc Party have the potential to be this decade’s best British rock band, as the Clash and the Police were in previous years. And after this year’s ACL set, I have a feeling that there are several thousand other fans testifying about the euphoria-inducing power of Bloc Party’s gifted musical graces.
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Permalink | Comments (3) | Categories: ACL Festival
Comments
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By Charlie
September 17, 2007 4:25 PM | Link to this
There was far too much cigarette smoke. Any chance of ACL being smoke free in the future?
By Keysha
September 17, 2007 8:45 PM | Link to this
I must agree. Bloc Party is one of the best bands out there. I first saw them at ACL 2 years ago, again last year at Stubbs (if I’m remembering correctly) and welcomed them back again this year. And I’ll be waiting until they come again. So talented!
By Phil
September 18, 2007 12:54 AM | Link to this
I agree, the F.O.H. mix was quite off (like nearly every performance on that stage), but it was more than the poor sound quality for me. Despite being their biggest venue to date, it felt as if they were “just going through the motions” while thinking of their big Texas-sized check. Is anyone else fed-up with the token “howdy y’all” comments from these city-slicker types? ELLO MATE, FANCY A FISH AND CHIPS, DO YA? RIGHT ‘DEN… What can I say, I just expected a bit more from them (on both levels).