Bloc Party at Kensington Olympia

Oops, been a bit slack on the old blogging front recently, but, in my defence, it was Easter! However, I did spend my Easter Sunday evening doing something a little more exciting than usual - as the title suggests, I went to see Bloc Party. Now, for those like my mother, and several other people over the age of 25 who replied to the statement 'I'm going to see Bloc Party' with 'Oh, what's that?' perhaps I should give an introduction. Bloc Party are a British four piece band consisting of Kele Okereke, Russell Lissack, Gordon Moakes and Matt Tong, who were formed at the Reading Festival in 1999, but only settled on the name Bloc Party in 2003. They have recently released their third album 'Intimacy', which the tour is in aid of. I was lucky enough to see them on their last night in England before going on tour overseas in Kensington Olympia; a venue I had only ever known as a daytime exhibition centre, but I have to say I really liked it.

Now, for the performance. I had been wanting to see Bloc Party perform live for some time now, their tracks like 'Helicopter' have been a frequent delight on night's out, and I bought their album 'A Weekend in the City' last year and absolutely treasure it. So it is safe to say they had a lot of expectations to live up to, and luckily they exceeded them.

Unlike a lot of bands with a new album to plug, Bloc Party did not just stick to the new stuff - while what I've heard of it has been great, it's just not the same when you can't sing along to the words yet. In fact, in addition to all the songs that had been released as singles, they managed to fit in a lot of album tracks from their earlier two albums, such as 'Blue Light' from their first album 'Silent Alarm' and 'Song for Clay' from 'Weekend in the City' (Amazing!)

The front man, Kele Okereke, showcased his distinctive vocal talent beautifully, the whole band worked together so well live that every song was not only as good as the recorded version, but better - which is as it always should be. Okereke chatted to the crowd, saying how nice it was for him to be home again in London, even though he wouldn't be back again for a while, and - to really get into the Easter spirit - he reappeared for the second half of the performance in a full white, fluffy rabbit suit. It was very becoming.

The band's finale was most definitely that, ending the excitable and sweaty evening with their hit 'Flux', which was released in November 2007. It was the song many members of the audience (including my friends and I) had been looking forward to, and it was introduced by Okereke, 'Now, I know we've hit you guys with a lot of energetic songs tonight, but I hope you've kept something in reserve for this last song...It's kind of a big deal.' And he was right. The atmosphere was electric, and there was not one head in the sea of people around me that was not madly bouncing around with a huge smile plastered across it.

Everyone left that evening sweaty and happy, despite the nightmare of Easter public transport they had to face getting home.

Bloc Party - 5/5