Frickin Wicked

The other night me & Eri went to see the first Bloc Party show since they took a break after the European summer festival circuit. Suprisingly they played at the small (but very nice) club Unit in Daikanyama. Turns out Eri is friends with the owner so she could get us in to the gig which had sold out in one hour. Talk about a good girlfriend!!! What a winner!!! I don't deserve such a woman.

The gig started at 7pm so I had to call in sick to work for the first time. I need the money but this was too good to pass up & sometimes you have to live a little. Bloc Party came onto the stage punctually and proceeded to kill it. They played most of the good songs from their sublime first album and road tested a bunch of new ones from their forthcoming album... 'A Night in the City'. I enjoyed the old ones much more but that could just be because I know them well.

They are a great band, the Kele's songs have a real empathy and humanity to them, a nice sentiment which is rare in modern music. It would make sense that they are called Bloc Party because I get the feeling from their music that everyone is welcome. Although they are quite fashionable, in reality they are guy-next-door types that happen to be really talented musicians.

The drummer is great & his high-intensity, technically-complex patterns provide the propulsion of their sound, while Kele is an enigma of sorts who switces between the roles of nice guy & pained artist frequently. He has a real joy of making music which is evident and infectious. It's a good thing he has personality because the bass player doesn't seem to get into it much and the other guitarist's fringe is so big you can't see his face... he looks like he's having a good time though.

They tried their best to use some nihongo which was appreciated. The crowd was very receptive to them, even if they showed their appreciation in quite a an orderly and civilised (read: Japanese) way. The mandatory in-between-songs ramblings were amusing as Kele and the band continuously made jokes that 90% of the crowd didn't understand.

Small intimate venue = great gig. Free gig = even better. It was definately a good night, arigatou gozaimashita Eri-Sama. You can have 'takoyaki tits' whenever you want.