Bloc Party

Last Tuesday Bloc Party came through Milwaukee and played at the Pabst Theatre downtown. I was introduced to Bloc Party in the summer of '05 by a friend on our way to our 10 year high school reunion. We listened to 'Silent Alarm' and I immediately fell in love with that record. Over two years later and I finally got a chance to see them live. Bloc Party released their sophomore record a handful of months ago - it is pretty rad as well, but isn't nearly as energetic as Silent Alarm.

This was the first time I had seen a show at the Pabst. Maybe it was where we were sitting - 3rd level in the balcony, but it sounded fucking amazing in there. As soon as we walked in I saw a giant sign advertising $3 tallboys of PBR and I knew this was going to be a good night. We were able to catch a good part of the set by the opening band called Smoosh. I felt like a dirty old man watching them play. The were pretty good though, even though their 8 year old bass player took off during the second song and never came back. The next group was named Final Fantasy. They were even more nerdy than the name implies - the band consisted of a dude with a violin connected to some kind of looping machine and a girl who placed art work over an overhead projector that seemed to go along with the different songs. Not as bad as it sounds.

Bloc Party opened up with the first song from 'Weekend in the City.' They covered what seemed like a good chunk of both albums, but most came from Silent Alarm. The highlight had to be when Kele made his way out into the crowd (with the help of a very long microphone cord) during 'She's Hearing Voices.' At some point he disappeared from view, only to return doing a backwards somersault just after getting on stage. Go see them if you have the chance.