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2 reviews from the previously hyped bloc party at manchester apollo, and a pretty special cover...

Seans review:
From the minute I heard Bloc Party's latest album Intimacy, second to falling for the London 4-piece all over again, I was curious, if a little worried, about how the heavy use of effects and keyboards would work out live. From the minute the band kick into opener, and new single, One Month Off my fears are eased, especially when this is followed by an epic rendition of Halo.

Bloc Party get straight down to business rattling through single Hunting For Witches, a rendition of Positive Tension that's up there with some of the best live tracks I've seen and Intimacy track Signs, which is as beautiful live as it is on record. Even Talons, one of the weakest tracks on the new album, is brilliantly frantic. The choice to play Waiting For The 7.18 is clearly one that not only pleases me, as the crowd sing and jump along to the chaotic ending.

Opener to 2007's A Weekend In The City, Song For Clay (Disappear Here) merges perfectly into indie classic Banquet as the immense first two thirds of the show crash to an ending. Unfortunately, the next few tracks do not follow suit. Ion Square is frankly boring, the only real highlight in single Mercury is singer Kele loosing his microphone while in the crowd and even airing of So Here We Are fails to recapture the atmosphere lost during the previous two tracks. Luckily final song of the main set Like Eating Glass saves the day.

The encore pretty much erased memories of the evenings down points, a brilliant cover of Girls Aloud's Call The Shots followed by singles The Prayer, Flux (unfortunately, the heavy synth fails to convey live) and the timeless Helicopter. The band return on last time for the insane Ares and a magic rendition of This Modern Love.

Bloc Party live is very much a game of chance. When you win, they are up there with the the best live acts on the planet, but when you loose, they are dull, boring and rather than conjuring up no atmosphere manage to remove any that had lingered from earlier in the night. Fortunately for tonight's attendees, they manage to win on pretty much every throw of the dice.


Bloc Party played:

One Month Off
Halo
Hunting For Witches
Positive Tension
Signs
Talons
Waiting For The 7.18
Song For Clay
Banquet
Ion Square
Mercury
So Here We Are
Like Eating Glass

Call The Shots (Girls Aloud Cover)
The Prayer
Flux
Helicopter

Ares
This Modern Love

edit: the Guardian review is from the night before
The Guardian's review:
When Bloc Party emerged in 2004, they were seen as indie drips, with Noel Gallagher comparing them unfavourably to contestants on University Challenge. Since then, the band have undergone a metamorphosis. Indie guitars have given way to distorted effects and eardrum-shattering volume. At times, it seems as though Bloc Party have been abducted and replaced by a quasi-metal band with a sticks-juggling drummer.

With guitarist Russell Lissack playing beautiful, plangent chords, vocalist Kele Okereke shouting as much as he sings, and bassist Gordon Moakes laying down reggae basslines over Matt Tong's hyperactive percussion, they sound so mismatched they could have met for the first time on the way in. But mostly it works. Sonic manifestos such as Ares ("We dance to the sound of sirens") have the crowd shouting along. This 90-minute set shows how they don't write songs so much as mashes of melody and groove, which are rendered here as an audiovisual barrage.

Though it can be mesmerising, the set is crying out for the more delicate strokes of their recent album Intimacy, or a gentler old song, such as So Here We Are. Still, as the amps are cranked up, the young crowd follow Okereke's requests to "go mental" - although at least one chap has his fingers in his ears.

Call the Shots was amazing
here is the mp3 of them doing it in the live lounge
Bloc Party-Call the Shots (Girls Aloud cover)