Clocking in very comfortably under 90 minutes, Bloc Party’s Philly stop of their Silent Alarm tour proved just as air-tight and rapid-fire as their trademark sound.
Last Tuesday’s main set at Franklin Music Hall was a near perfect mirror image to the track list of their seminal debut, kicking off with the plaintively sprawling “Compliments” and counting all the way down to the rousing and restless album opener “Like Eating Glass” (“Little Thoughts” from the 2004 EP was the one outlier in the otherwise flawless album reflection).
Far from having to shroud behind erstwhile triumphs to sell a compelling show, this was clearly a band in top form.
Kele Okereke’s vocals were as full, rounded yearning and powerful as ever, and complimented thrillingly by the vicious angular chop of Russel Lissack’s taut and tense guitars, Louise Bartle’s driving drums and rock-solid foundation of Justin Harris’ bass.
Notable moments were the blistering “Banquet”, the machine gun whir of “Helicopter” and the relentless thrust of “She’s Hearing Voices” – all of which had the lion’s share of the audience belting out every lyric word by word.
Billowing confetti clouds surged at the climax of crowd favorite “This Modern Love”, to make for one of what seemed like an unjustifiably excessive amount of night highlights. And that only marked the halfway point of the show.
Though one might argue, in light of the hyper efficient set time and relatively no-nonsense banter avoidance, it felt a bit like strictly business at this Bloc Party. But if that wasn’t a by the book demonstration in leaving them all wanting more, I don’t know what is.
xx Christian
