All You Gods and Goddesses: Bloc Party @ First Avenue
Bloc Party
May 4th, 2009
First Avenue, Minneapolis
“Hello, Minneapolis! We almost didn’t make it.”
Kele Okereke shouted this from the stage last night from First Avenue right after they finished their opening number, “One Month Off” from their new album Intimacy. One month off indeed. Bloc Party was originally scheduled to play 1st Ave on March 30th in what was to be the kick off for my six date Brit Rock Spring Wank with gentle ball cupping (Keane and Doves still to come). When they canceled due to Kele losing his voice, I checked their tour schedule to see if they could swing back through at a later time. I saw several dates in Canada and since we are basically part of that country, I thought it still could happen.
It did.
And it was bloody marvelous.
Right off the bat one could see that the boys in the band felt bad for missing us on the original date. Kele promised a thunderous AND extended set. They fucking delivered playing nearly all of their new album and several tracks from their first two albums. Since I missed them the first and only other time they came through in 2005, it was great to hear them play “Blue Light”, “Like Eating Glass” and “Positive Tension” from Silent Alarm; and “Flux” from A Weekend in the City really got the pit swaying around.In addition to fantastic performances of “Mercury”, “Ares” and “The Prayer”, Kele and the rest of the lads charmed the crowd… carrying on conversations with people in the audience, flirting with girls (natch!) and chastising people for walking out during the encore which saw “She’s Hearing Voices” tacked on just for us Minneapolitans.
This last bit prompted Kele to say, “Alright, that’s it! I’m coming out there.” And he did…gloriously allowing all of us to body pass him around the pit and eventually to stage left where he proceeded to run up the steps to the upper level! He paused on the area of the steps that has always been known to elicit cries from staff saying, “You can’t stand here, dude!” Well, he not only stood there, but found a woman to dance with – continuing to run around all areas of the club with the roadie following behind him, frantically trying to give him more slack on the mic cable.
Sure I would’ve liked to hear “Biko” from the new record and my fave Bloc Party tune “Tulips” (a shiver and a sigh), but the energy from the band and the crowd more than made up for it. Sadly, this is the last North American show for Bloc Party. They are off to Europe though, so all you Ickmusic readers there should go to see them. It will be a corker!
Links: Bloc Party’s Official Site | MySpace
Buy their latest: Intimacy
The Friday Five: March 27, 2009
For those who have not joined in the Friday Five here is all you need to know; each Friday I hit the shuffle button on my iTunes and share my five and drop a little knowledge and insight for each track. Sometimes there is a playlist involved, sometimes there isn’t. Sometimes we have guest, but most of the time it’s just me.
The rest is up to you, our friends and readers! Fire up your media player of choice and share the first five random track of your shuffle in the comments. The more the merrier!
The Five:
“Contact” by Phish (from Junta)
It’s samba time! I love this side of Phish, the kitschy lyrics and overt melodies (“Hula Hana of Kamana Whala Hula Bay” is clearly quoted during one of Page‘s solos) and a funky twist in the middle and the sing a long. Hopefully you all got in on the free offer of the first three nights of their reunion tour!
“TV Mama” (mp3) by Shuggie Otis (from In Session: Great Rhythm & Blues)
Ickmusic favorite Shuggie Otis delivers a solid 12 bar blues with some tasty slide work.
“Better Than Heaven” by Bloc Party (from Intimacy)
This record never really connected with me. There are a couple of really good songs (this being one of them) but most of the tracks seem very disjointed and cold. The exceptions really being this track and “Biko”.
“Baby’s Coming Back” (mp3) by Jellyfish (from Bellybutton)
… Excuse me, time to do the Peanuts dance, care to join me?
“Rainy April Day” (mp3) by Fury in the Slaughterhouse (from The Hearing and the Sense of Balance)
This track is a sober condemnation of Kurt Cobain‘s suicide. It’s not a great selection to close out an otherwise upbeat Friday Five, but you can’t end them all with rainbows, unicorns and trombones!
What’s shuffling you down to the weekend?
