History has proven time and again that if the powers-that-be put up a wall, the people will eventually tear it down. Such was the case at last night’s Bloc Party concert at the Orpheum when 80+ fans, grown tired of the formal sit down theatre setting of the venue, rushed the stage for the final song of the night.
The Bloc Party is not a sit down kind of band. I caught their act two years ago at the Commodore when they came through town pushing their epic debut Silent Alarm. What I remember most from that experience was the energy. They had the crowd dancing to be sure, and they were tight as all hell.
Both of these qualities were somewhat lacking at last night’s performance. The former for reasons already mentioned — taking the crowd’s energy out of the equation tends to crater the momentum. And in the case of the latter, the new songs just did not come across as polished as the Silent Alarm tracks, of which they played a good number including Banquet, Like Eating Glass and Positive Tension.
It seems an admirable feat these days to see a show where when a band builds their set from their entire repertoire; it feels more like a concert and less like album promotion. But after the show, we debated whether the near 50/50 cut of old songs to new was more a reflection of their musicianship or the need to flush out the setlist with a few energetic tunes.
The crowd definitely seemed to respond more to the older offerings, but perhaps that’s because A Weekend in the City has only been officially out for a month. It does take a little getting used to. Back in October, Stereogum.com had started posting rumours of an album leak for Bloc Party’s highly anticipated sophomore effort and within days, it surfaced in our music library at the studio. So I was well acquainted with the tracks. It is a different record from Silent Alarm, more produced – some have said overproduced – with others commenting that it was noticeably “slower” than the first. But while it did seem to need to grow on me, along the way came brilliant revelations that there are some really damn good songs, all with that underlying feeling of anxious jubilation that seems to run through Bloc Party songs as though taking in the beauty of a nuclear sky.
Some of the most compelling moments of the night actually came prior to the Bloc Party taking the stage in the form of the second act, Final Fantasy. Armed with violin, keyboard and various effects pedals, Owen Pallett, the band’s sole member, unleashed an array of classically inspired riffs that looped in, around and beneath his self-proclaimed “thin, stupid vocals”. Truly something unique to see for yourself, his live act being a much different animal from his most recent release, the difficult but brilliantly titled “He Poos Clouds”. Equally brilliant were the accompanying background visuals, provided by artist introduced only as “Steph”. Using only an overhead projector of the style that would be found in most high school science classrooms, she overlayed transparencies on top of one another creating rudimentary animations and juxtipositions, often with the shadows of her hands playing a role in the composition. Now this was an act suited to the Orpheum’s setting.
Despite all of my criticisms, it was a pretty sweet show. No doubt if the Bloc Party continue on their current rise, then their next visit to Vancouver could very well be GM Place. But I’m hoping it will be back at the Commodore. The energy is good there.
Posted by Kevin Broome
