Alexandra M. Svokos STAFF WRITER

“This is the second night of our hostile or animal takeover of New York,” the lead singer of Bloc Party, Kele, announced on Wednesday, March 25th at Terminal 5.

The crowd erupted as the band took the stage and confidently began their set. For the next hour they held the crowd’s attention playing both new and old favorites. From their newest album, Intimacy, the highlight was ‘Halo.’ As the second song in the set, it really got the crowd moving. Then the band played ‘Positive Tension.’ What’s so great about this song? Why, the break in which everyone screams “SO FUCKING USELESS,” of course. And then came ‘Banquet.’ The audience jumped, screamed, and danced around, fists pumping in the air. Well, at least the crowd on the floor did all of that. Looking up at the attendees on the balconies of the second and third floors, Kele had to mutter, “they all look so miserable what the fuck?” That really riled up those people and soon the entire building was shaking between the bass and the screaming and the dancing and the singing.

Kele announced that Bloc Party was going to play an old song, for the “real” fans. They broke into ‘The Marshalls Are Dead,’ and the “real” fans sang along. Near the end of the set, the band played ‘The Prayer.’ Again, this got the entire crowd moving and singing along, begging to be “unstoppable,” just like the band. To everyone’s delighted surprise, ‘This Modern Love,’ an older single, was performed. The first set ended and Bloc Party quickly and happily left the stage. The crew ran out, setting up a second drum set. This caused a stir in the audience as someone realized two drum sets could only be ‘Sunday.’ Sure enough, when Bloc Party reemerged, they opened with ‘Sunday.’

“This song is about waking up hung over next to someone you love. It’s pertinent to you, isn’t it?” Kele asked the drummer, Matt Tong – who, at this point, was wearing nothing more than Converse and yellow shorts.

“Enough with the ballads,” Kele said at the end of that song. He told the audience that he was going to make them dance. “It’s nice to be polite, but not at a rock concert,” he explained.

“It’s time to tear some shit up,” Gordon Moakes, the bassist/second drummer/synthesizer guy agreed. Following that, the band played a few kick-ass songs in a row. Kele followed his own advice, purposely knocking over his microphone stand immediately after a crew guy ran out to pick it up, much to the crew guy’s chagrin. For their last song, they performed ‘Helicopter’ – which you may know from Guitar Hero. The audience flipped out on this one, really getting into it. The band came together, took a bow, and left. After some urging from the crowd, Bloc Party came back out again.

“If you have any aggression, li-li-listen. If you have any aggression in your body, now is the time to set it free.” Thus began the madness. In the middle of the song, Kele jumped down into the area between the stage and the people. Everyone reached out to get a touch of him. Walking to the right side of the stage, Kele then either jumped or was pulled on top of the audience. Surfing overhead, security freaked out while he was carried in a short circle – still singing – to reach the stage once more.

At this point, the audience was more than happy to do anything the band wanted them to. Finally, Kele thanked the audience and, once more, announced that this night was much better than the night before, also in Terminal 5. For their last song, Bloc Party played ‘Like Eating Glass,’ an incredible classic from their first studio album. As Kele jumped around and the rest of the band smiled and played away, the audience screamed every word and danced for the entirety.

When the band left for good, the crowd milled around, still reveling in the power, the sound, and the memory of Kele’s ass on their hands as he passed overhead. Nice work, Bloc Party, and thank you.


Bloc Party - The Prayer.mp3
Bloc Party - Signs (Armand Van Helden Remix).mp3
Bloc Party - Mercury.mp3
Bloc Party - Banquet.mp3

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