Stayed up late last night, watching the coverage of Bloc Party playing at the BBC Electric Proms. It really did look like a fantastic gig, with the unusual presence of a full choir really filling out their sound.
When their debut album, Silent Alarm, came out in 2005, it was a brilliant mix of post-punk angular guitars and abstract, heartfelt songwriting. Frontman Kele Okereke's distinctive bi-tonal voice plays off against wonderfully stinging lead guitar from Russell Lissack, all propelled by the excellent and decidedly unorthodox rhythm section of Gordon Moakes and Matt Tong on bass and drums respectively. Their second album, the hugely under-rated A Weekend In The City, pushed their sound into new directions that most indie boy bands would run screaming from, and apparently their new single has them 'going a bit New Order', which is certainly a twist.
Watching the intimate and yet epic set on my TV, I found myself achingly nostalgic for the part of my life that I fear has passed. It was only a few months ago that I would always be lining up two gigs, the rotating wheel of live music that I loved never quite stopping turning. Recently, I have lacked the desire; indeed the last live music I saw was at Glastonbury nearly six months ago.
That weekend, I missed out on my second Bloc Party gig. They clashed with someone I hadn't seen, but I think the real reason I missed them was to preserve intact the memory of seeing them in London. A perfect night, it is a memory too well formed in my mind to detail here, but needless to say that it was both intimate and enormous, and that I was close enough at points to grab a fistful of Okereke's hair (though of course I didn't).
Time to get the wheel rolling again, methinks.
When their debut album, Silent Alarm, came out in 2005, it was a brilliant mix of post-punk angular guitars and abstract, heartfelt songwriting. Frontman Kele Okereke's distinctive bi-tonal voice plays off against wonderfully stinging lead guitar from Russell Lissack, all propelled by the excellent and decidedly unorthodox rhythm section of Gordon Moakes and Matt Tong on bass and drums respectively. Their second album, the hugely under-rated A Weekend In The City, pushed their sound into new directions that most indie boy bands would run screaming from, and apparently their new single has them 'going a bit New Order', which is certainly a twist.
Watching the intimate and yet epic set on my TV, I found myself achingly nostalgic for the part of my life that I fear has passed. It was only a few months ago that I would always be lining up two gigs, the rotating wheel of live music that I loved never quite stopping turning. Recently, I have lacked the desire; indeed the last live music I saw was at Glastonbury nearly six months ago.
That weekend, I missed out on my second Bloc Party gig. They clashed with someone I hadn't seen, but I think the real reason I missed them was to preserve intact the memory of seeing them in London. A perfect night, it is a memory too well formed in my mind to detail here, but needless to say that it was both intimate and enormous, and that I was close enough at points to grab a fistful of Okereke's hair (though of course I didn't).
Time to get the wheel rolling again, methinks.
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