Bloc Party

Bloc Party emerged on the music scene enshrouded by hype. Both The BBC and The NME were already telling the world that they were going to be the band of 2005 and thus projected Bloc Party to a status well beyond the level they were actually at.

Bloc Party were headlining the Radio 1/NME stage on the Friday night of Leeds festival and had drawn in a moderate crowd. “Thanks for starting your weekend off with us and choosing us over Iron Maiden, even though they rock!” spoke Kele Okereke, the man whose vocals and abstract guitar gives the band their sense of uniqueness.

Autonomous guitar solos and a subtle efflorescence of tuneful melodies are the backbone of Bloc Party's songs. They have a consistently ethereal sound that transports directly from album to stage, and this is when Bloc Party are at their best. Twinkley guitars, African-drum style beats and Okereke's accented singing combine to produce the Bloc Party sound.

Bloc Party tend to be very experimental and as Gomez will tell you, commercialism and experimentation are often a matrimonial disaster. The majority of Bloc Party's songs begin promisingly enough and often go off on various tangents but never seem to actually get anywhere. The dreamy 'So here we are' has potential but lacks a chorus good enough to warrant a single. Which makes me wonder why on earth they chose this to release?

Tonight’s opener 'Like Eating Glass' has a staccato beat and the aforementioned twinkley guitars as its base but shifts to conventional guitar strumming for the chorus. It sounds a lot like the bands single 'Helicopter' for my liking.

You have to wait a while for 'Positive Tension' to get into its step, but when it does it’s a fantastic song that lifted tonight’s crowd. 'Banquet' unsurprisingly got the biggest reception. It was always going to be the bands most commercially viable song but it’s far from their most experimental.

The band was modest about their success, which makes them all the more likeable. Okereke tried to recreate last years audience interaction by getting the crowd to chant 'Bloc Party are great' back at him. Chuffed, he felt the need to get the band to reciprocate the feeling and tell the Leeds crowd that they are also great.

Bloc Party aren't entertainers and their live performances are hardly engaging to watch. The Radio 1/NME stage was just about big enough for them but it was impossible to see how they could captivate a larger crowd, especially with the songs that they have at the moment. None of which seem to fulfil the potential that Bloc Party clearly have. An average set, from a talented band.

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