Concert review: Bloc Party meets a rapturous Manila crowd
Bloc Party's show was, well, one hell of a party. And even that is an understatement.
Their one-night-only show at the World Trade Center in Pasay on March 22 reminded Pinoy fans why the band was one of the best British acts of the past decade.
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The quartet of Kele Okereke, Matt Tong, Russell Lissack, and Gordon Moakes hit it big in 2004 with their breakout album, “Silent Alarm,” which took the post-punk revival (and post-Franz Ferdinand) hipster era into a whole new level.
Six years too late?
With their trademark danceable, spiky-yet-textured guitar-based approach to music, Bloc Party's influence even reached local shores (see: Taken by Cars). Some music insiders even thought of the band's arrival in the country as possibly “six years too late,” with people fearing their WTC show would end up a dud.
Man, were they wrong.
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Opening act Up Dharma Down served as the perfect lead-in, with their new laid-back sound that was more electronic 80s pop than what their old fans were used to. Singer Armi Millare and her compatriots Paul Yap, Carlos Tañada, and Ean Mayor performed songs from their new album “Capacities,” and ended their short-but-brave set with their current single “Turn It Well.”
‘Show us more energy!’
Half an hour later, the lads from London finally stepped onstage to wild cheers from the Manila crowd (which by this time had filled up the venue). They then proceeded to play the heavy “So He Begins to Lie” off their latest album, “Four.”
The band meant business, diving into their dynamic older material (“Mercury,” “Hunting For Witches,” and “Positive Tension”) before playing “Team A,” also from the new album. The throng loved every minute of the series, dancing or pogo-ing along depending on which side of the WTC tent you were looking at.
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The people at the Gold section still seemed to be a bit more reserved for the group's taste, prompting singer Kele to remind the crowd, “Don't be shy. Show us more energy!”
Driven to tears
Then Bloc Party pulled one of the many curveballs of the night. The twee xylophone riffs from the introspective “Waiting for the 7:18” drove the crowd, well, nuts: the kind of nutcases that burst into tears not knowing whether they want to cry over personal losses or scream out of utter fanboyishness. Or maybe both (as in the case of this writer).
More than the post-punkishness of the first album's sound, it was the album where “7:18” came from, “A Weekend in the City,” that showed that they could tell real and introspective stories that explore the human emotion, ranging from insecurity (“The Prayer”) to loneliness (“7:18”) to loving someone in spite of a hangover (“Sunday”).
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Not to dwell on navel-gazing, the band went back to heavy mode with “Song for Clay” and then segued to their most recognizable hit, the Gang of Four-ish “Banquet,” which made every single person on the venue dance. For all their sonic experimentation, it is safe to say that the dance/punk aspect will be something listeners will forever remember them by.
The band seems to refuse being pigeonholed, based on their mix of steady material (“Day Four,” “Coliseum”) with the kinetically-charged ones of “The Prayer,” the 80s dance music-sounding “One More Chance” and seemingly ending the night with “Octopus.” But they returned minutes later for what Kele called “round two.”
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Killer Round 2
And the start of Round Two was killer: “So Here We Are” was greeted with rapturousness. Imagine a hall with the band playing to a sing-along crowd which sounded like a mixture of tearful crying and ecstatic cheering. It was an emotionally-charged song, after all. But again, the band didn't seem to stick with one mood for too long, so they went back to the aggressive “Ares,” then swung back to moody-but-danceable “This Modern Love” before ending the encore with club-friendly “Fluxx.”
But the crowd wanted “more!” So the band returned for their final encore, starting with the wistful “Sunday,” their current single “Truth,” and ended with twin-guitar crowd favorite, “Helicopter.”
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If there was one thing that Bloc Party proved, it was that they were capable of taking the crowd through a gamut of emotions, and celebrating the very process of doing so.
A rollercoaster, and definitely as thrilling. The band wasn't perfect—drummer Matt Tong tended to lose a beat or two, though he has always been known for it—but it was this imperfection that reminded everyone that Bloc Party is all about the human experience.
And they will sure as hell make sure that their fans experience that as well.
Editor's note: The blogger's views do not represent Yahoo! Southeast Asia's position on the topic or issue being discussed.
