LIVE: Bloc Party Finally Get The Reception They Deserve
Monday March 26, 2007 @ 03:30 PM
By: ChartAttack.com Staff

March 25, 2007
Kool Haus
Toronto, ON
by Noah Love

The last time I saw Bloc Party was almost exactly two years ago on an abysmal night at the Opera House. The group were the first U.K. band to hit these shores in some years whose hype was actually legitimate, so hopes were impossibly high. Through some terrible combination of venue and weather, the crowd sucked the life right out of the room. But that was a minor hiccup on the road to success, and since then the band have been embraced by Toronto's Broken Social Scenesters, making this city one that Bloc Party have sincerely and affectionately referred to as a home away from home. With all the goodwill in the world at their backs, Bloc Party stormed back into town Sunday for their first gig here since releasing their hit sophomore album, A Weekend In The City.

But this was no mere headlining show. Nope, this was a bona fide triple bill. First out of the gate were newly minted trio Sebastien Grainger And The Mountains, or Les Montagnes, not sure which they are right now. Anyway, the former Death From Above 1979 frontman churned out a short set of grungy, garage rock love songs that were warmly received by the hometown crowd. The arrangements still need some work, and Grainger's obviously still getting used to employing his vocals in a more relaxed gear, but the music showed plenty of promise, sounding like a cross between DFA 1979 and Broken Social Scene.

Next came also-newly-minted solo artist Albert Hammond Jr. The Strokes lead guitarist played the majority of his solo debut, Yours To Keep during his 35-minute set, and threw in a cover of Guided By Voices' "Postal Blowfish," during which he sounded like a young version of Robert Pollard. There are a few interesting notes about Hammond Jr.'s performance. First, he was a surprisingly engaging frontman. He confidently hit the high notes of "In Transit" and filled the Kool Haus with his voice on album closer "Hard To Live In The City." His band were remarkably tight, and the degree to which they recreated some of the sounds from the record without the corresponding instruments was highly impressive. Finally, and most hilariously, if you weren't wearing glasses or squinted, you'd swear Hammond was backed by The Strokes. It was comical. Almost every member in the group looks like a member of New York's famous five. That was almost worth the price of admission alone.

After the longest break of the night (which you really begin to feel in the Kool Haus when you hit the three-hour mark), Bloc Party strode out in a swath of purple lighting, and the screams began as soon as "Song For Clay (Disappear Here)" did. "Positive Tension" heralded the beginning of a staggering light show that strobed, flashed and blinked with every chord change. The visuals gave Bloc Party's terse melodies and angular guitars even more tension than they typically possess.

"Was anybody at the Opera House show?" bassist Gordon Moakes asked before issuing a quick correction — "No, I mean The Docks? THAT was a good show... Is this a good show?" Ahh, awkward Brits, always know how to warm up a crowd.

Not that it needed any warming up. Bloc Party have become both an extremely skilled and confident live band. Their set list only illustrated this point, as they effortlessly traded between AWITC and Silent Alarm tracks instead of leaning heavily on either. Kele Okereke's voice, shouty though it always is, was much less reserved this time around, and the frontman was in great spirits throughout the night. At one point he proclaimed Toronto his favourite city in the world outside London and gave a shout out to Social Scene's Kevin Drew, who unsurprisingly came out to sing the end of "So Here We Are" on Moakes' mic.

There were a couple of lowlights. The first was the group's live take on "Sunday," which unnecessarily featured Moakes on a second set of drums. In turn, that sapped the instrumentation out of the track and slightly buried Okereke's vocals on one of his better lyrical songs. Also, I could have done without "Uniform," a song that features so little consistency that its title is completely inappropriate, and "The Prayer," especially when the excellent "Kreuzberg" and "On" didn't make the cut.

Overall, though, this was the night Bloc Party should have had the first time they sold out a Toronto venue, that crappy night at the Opera House. But there's no sense in dwelling on the past. This time around, these Londoners clearly proved themselves the toast of the town. And that's no easy feat when you consider that we often hold out on toasting even our own.

Here's Bloc Party's set list: