Bloc Party
Hordern Pavilion, Sydney, NSW
Thursday, July 31st
Nostalgia is the hot ticket at Hordern Pavilion on a cold winter night in Sydney. The Wombats are playing over the PA at the nearby pub before the show, and one patron remarks, “I’ve got tickets for Franz Ferdinand and Oasis” as we enter.
Bloc Party are back in town 20 years on from their seminal soundtrack to the 2000s, Silent Alarm. It comes during a reappraisal of their sound under the banner of “indie sleaze”, a term seemingly invented in the past couple of years to group together all alternative music of that time.
Their music is thrown together on steaming playlists with LCD Soundsystem and MGMT, as well as fresh faces playing with similar sounds like The Dare and Fcukers. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense when you think too hard about it, but it is a sign that the nostalgia cycle has come around and scooped up Bloc Party.
They’re sharing the bill with Young the Giant, a choice that, when announced, felt a bit odd — this glossy American take on indie always felt at odds with Bloc Party’s frenetic post punk.
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The feeling is seemingly justified when the band is welcomed by quite a sparse, lukewarm crowd. Outside of a group of ecstatic Young the Giant fans, situated front and centre for the band’s first Australian show in 15 years, the majority of the crowd politely wait through the 45 minutes of inoffensive indie.
The draw of bringing an international act along for your tour is obvious — it’s a double-dose of nostalgia for the millennials in attendance. Bloc Party’s most recent trip Down Under, for example, was a double-headline show with Interpol.
That combination made sense but this one falls a little flat, and it’s disappointing not to see one of the many young Australian acts clearly inspired by Bloc Party nab the opener spot.
The vibe immediately shifts once Young the Giant close out their set. The interstitial music consists mainly of tech-house as a party atmosphere building for the headliners.
It’s an atmosphere that is rewarded immediately. We’re welcomed with the two clearest examples of the duelling sounds of Silent Alarm — the shimmery, anthemic “So Here We Are”, and the raucous “She’s Hearing Voices”.
As has been the case for the last 20 years of Bloc Party, lead singer Kele Okereke is the star of the show. During “Blue Light”, the rest of the band is almost fully obscured by navy blue lighting while a beaming spotlight illuminates Okereke.
On stage with Okereke is the only other original member of the band remaining, Russell Lissack, still sporting his iconic naughties side-swept fringe. They’re joined by drummer Louie Bartle, who’s been with the band since 2015, and the newest member of the touring party, bassist Harry Deacon.
There’s plenty of punch to the performances of these old songs, with big wall-of-sound guitars and ultra-tight drumming from Bartle.
It’s second-album favourite “Hunting for Witches” that sends the crowd into a frenzy. As it begins, one fan throws a half-drunk beer into the air. Rude, but also a valid reaction to that opening guitar line.
There’s a lack of phones out filming in the crowd, which seems to have people moving in pre-social media ways. It gives the room an almost innocent noughties-esque absence of inhibition.
This tour has been billed as Bloc Party “performing Silent Alarm and the greatest hits”. Unlike their 2018 trip to Australia, where they played their debut in full with an encore of other fan favourites, they lean heavier on the rest of their catalogue this time around.
Songs from Weekend in the City and Intimacy are sprinkled among deep cuts from their beloved first record. It’s all building to an all-time mid-set climax, as “Song for Clay (Disappear Here)” seamlessly fades into the opening riff of “Banquet”.
At this moment, the spirit of 2012 Splendour in the Grass fills the Hordern Pavilion. This is indie at stadium rock proportions. Bloc Party are hoping the goodwill of this moment will carry the crowd through a subsequent run of late-career tracks, but the crowd’s energy has dissipated by the time we get to the particularly awkward “The Love Within”.
“I’m going to ask you a question that I think I know the answer to, Sydney. Do you want to get high?” Okereke queries the audience. He’s met with a few disinterested cheers.
There is, of course, an easy remedy. The crowd’s attention snaps back into place as soon as Okereke fires into “you’re just as boring as everyone else,” the opening mantra of “Positive Tension”.
He waves goodbye, and the band leave the stage after a couple more gems. Nobody is under the assumption that the night is over. Lissack is actually on stage tuning guitars with a sound tech during the break.
It may be a moment of over-tampering, as the encore begins with a muddy rendition of “Signs”, or this may be the jet lag finally hitting. Okereke remarks that they’re fresh off a flight. “Sydney, I’m tired,” he beckons in an attempt to get the crowd to take over the singing duties during “Helicopter”.
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It’s been a concert of ebbs and flows, but the early ‘00s indie rock scene was always a bit messy. That was part of what made it special. It’s the truly massive highs, not the chaotic lows, that have stuck with us for two decades. And it’s with the energy of a rapturous Skins-esque house party that Bloc Party end the night.
“Ratchet” goes down a treat — the only post-Intimacy song from the night that gels with their early work. And the closer, “This Modern Love”, is effortlessly joyous. A song that moves past the nostalgia and sounds even sharper today than it did in 2005.
Group hugs break out and couples embrace as the crowd harmonises on the song’s final line: “Throw your arms around me.”
Bloc Party’s Australian tour has dates remaining in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Brisbane. More information can be found here.
