Before a packed house at the most famous venue in San Francisco and in front of a backdrop bearing his band’s grammatically incorrect moniker, Kele Okereke felt the need to say, “We are Bloc Party,” Maybe he didn’t want anyone to be confused? There’s something amusing about it, when bands do this. I mean, at least he was trying to make it sound like he’s trying to sound humble. Did that make sense?
All this humility, and it was only a short while after Does It Offend You, Yeah? got the crowd loose with their brand of dance-rock that Bloc Party came out and reveled in their applause. They almost looked like they expected it. They didn’t mess around either, as they got right into playing their set.
Now, I have to confess that I sat there and admired Okereke for a minute, as I’m completely jealous of his hair. Dude’s got this short dread lock thing down so well, he’d walk into a bar and get ten kinds of sex, even if he weren’t the front man to one of the worlds best post-punk revival outfits. After all, it seems his do’ didn’t hurt him when swaying the drooling gaze of the Fillmore’s audience his way, a place that can sometimes be better to look at than watch whatever act is playing.
Never a huge Bloc Party fan, I found myself gaining a lot of respect for this British outfit at the show. They’ve got their brand of music, they do it well and they genuinely seem to care whether or not the whole composition sounds good and is tightly written. They are the rare band that doesn’t dazzle at live performances in the traditional sense of the word, but wins crowds over with an extremely high-quality product. The loyal following that they command was evident, as the crowd didn’t seem to get lost on any of the tracks that they played. People weren’t just singing along to the hits off of 2005’s Silent Alarm either—they were stoked to hear every new note that came off of Okereke’s guitar.
Then came the end of the show, three times over. Faking an early exit (the first encore always is), Bloc Party trotted off stage and played a couple more songs, then retreated behind their enlarged grammatical error to let the crowd thin. At first, it wasn’t clear they would come out. The show seemed like it was actually over. Then, Okereke came out yet again. I had to stick around. I had to get another beer. The process repeated, and once again, I got more beer. Now that’s a level of genius I have to respect. Forcing your audience members to get more beer each time you leave the stage. Guess I can’t complain about that.
Artist:
www.blocparty.com
www.doesitoffendyou.com
Download:
Bloc Party – "Mercury" [mp3]
Does It Offend You, Yeah? – "We Are Rockstars" [mp3]
