South Coast Entertainment Bloc Party Review

On the spooky evening of October 31st Bloc Party bought one of the tours of the year to a close in Bournemouth. The packed out Bournemouth International Centre, having been warmed up by the Grammatics, were swaying as one before the band even made their way onto the stage. With drummer Matt Tong sporting a Bournemouth football shirt they managed to endear themselves even further. The band had even suggested fans dress up in costume for the gig due to its halloween time frame and many duly obliged, making this a fantastic and fun evening.

With the band having had the support role for the massive sunday slot at their home town Reading Festival (Radiohead headlined) the band have proven pedigree on a global scale. Each album has been a steady advance on the cracking debut 'Silent Alarm' with new sounds and ideas mixed perfectly together. Few bands currently with the exception of possibly the Kings of Leon and the Arctic Monkeys have developed with each new album. Its this evolving and peak performance that has both fans and critics applauding.

The band flow onstage and barely give the fans a time to pause while displaying all of the talents of their back catalogue. Opening with recent favourite 'One Month Off' from the album Intimacy, the crowds energy was easy to see. Even if many had nights out planned afterwards, a band as good as this were too good not to get involved. Delving straight into the Silent Alarm 'Positive Tension' everyone calms for a second and has a sing a-long. Then as soon as lead singer Kele bounds out the opening few words to 'Mercury', seeing the crowd and the ensuing crush was an amazing sight.

The appearance of what must have been one of the crew on stage dressed in a Winnie the Pooh outfit kept the friendly feel to the show. The only problems arose as the crowd began to become more passionate and rowdy, with glowsticks being thrown everywhere. Lead singer Kele, having ducked and dodged about half a dozen was unfortunately hit by a stray glowstick a few times towards the end of second album 'A Weekend in the City' hit 'A Song For Clay (Disappear Here)'. As the song came to a close, a somewhat quiet Kele was able to explain how he was ill and the crowd throwing stuff at him won't help. "It's not a Klaxons gig" the enigmatic singer proclaimed with Gordon Moakes (on the synth) chiming in "New Rave is dead!". One glowstick was even spotted being thrown from the standing area into the seats above!

Others songs included during the set were the bouncing student favourite 'Banquet', the honest and insightful 'This Modern Love' with the gig being concluded initially with the universally known 'The Prayer' with the fans lapping up every beat.

The band begun their encore with 'So Here We Are' followed by 'Ares' and then erupting into 'Flux'. Then allowing the fans to draw some resolve, finishing, or so we thought, on the flag bearer of the Silent Alarm record, 'Helicopter'. A few fans having thought they had had their fill began to file out but the band werent finished just yet. Coming out one more time for 'She's Hearing Voices' the band gave it everything in what was their last song of the UK tour.

Through constant touring Bloc Party have forged a reputation as one of the countries best live acts. Combining the mellow and tranquil 'Signs' with the frenetic 'Flux', amongst others they set themselves apart from the middle of the road 'indie' bands currently on the scene.