Bloc Party, Van She @ HordernPavilion, Sydney, (25/11/08)

Wed 26th Nov, 2008 in Gig Reviews

CHECK OUT THE PICS HERE!

Tuesday night saw the return of London indie rock gods Bloc Party to Sydney for the first of their two shows at the Hordern Pavilion. The boys delighted the capacity crowd playing a one and a half hour set before returning for two encores. If there was ever a place for a Bloc Party fan to pick up at a gig, of course this was it: the incredibly fashionable and like-minded crowd were in a state of delirium from the second the band took to the stage.

But first Australian indie darlings Van She kicked off the night. There can’t be too many things more intimidating or fierce than playing to thousands of Bloc Party fans. With arms crossed and only the sparse nodding of heads it was clear punters were keen to see only one thing. Van She probably didn’t do enough to engage the crowd given they were playing to their home town, and frontman Nick Routledge’s voice seemed a little off. Nonetheless Van She did their thing with set highlights including Cat & The Eye, Strangers_, Sex City_ and of course set closer Kelly.

After what seemed like an eternity but was actually only 30 minutes the music stopped, the lights went off, 5,000 people started screaming and our beloved Bloc Party entered the stage. From this point on the Hordern was swamped with uncontrollable excitement, with the crowd moving as one as Kele Okereke, Mark Tong, Russell Lissack, and Gordon Moakes took us through Silent Alarm, A Weekend in the City and Intimacy.

The crowd went crazy for each and every track and the band did a superb job of choosing tracks, with what can only be described as perfect connections between tracks, best highlighted with Song for Clay morphing straight into fan favourite Banquet. The crowd were equally excited with tracks from all three albums and of course for Bloc Party fans it is oh-so-hard to choose a stand-out moment.

Boys and girls alike were in awe of the band, so much so Okereke was the lucky recipient of more than one pair of panties during the show. A trio of tracks from Intimacy; Ion Square, Mercury and Talons led into the beautiful So Here We Are with the band noting it was their first ever single.

Finishing the set with The Prayer the boys promptly returned for the first of two encores playing Sunday, Like Eating Glass, Flux and Helicopter_ in quick succession. The addition of lasers for Flux and Helicopter_ tipped the ecstatic crowd over the edge. As the band took a bow, they left the Sydney crowd with the sage advice that all good things must come to an end and we must use them wisely. But to everyone’s delight they were back for just a little more and it was delightful to see the handsome frontman dancing and letting loose at the end of Intimacy track Ares. And with a perfect finish to a perfect night Bloc Party led the crowd in a 5000 strong sing-a-long to the beautiful This Modern Love.

Set-list
Halo
Hunting for Witches
Blue Light
Positive Tension
Trojan Horse
Song for Clay (Disappear Here)
Banquet
Ion Square
Mercury
Talons
So Here We Are
The Prayer

First Encore
Sunday
Like Eating Glass
Flux
Helicopter

Second Encore
Ares
Modern Love