Amber, Andy & Max have moved to Toulouse for the time being and Amber sends this gig review from last week……
Le Bikini is hidden away on an unmarked road in an industrial estate in the south of Toulouse. Aside from the difficulty in finding the place its a great venue. Purpose built, modern and with a swimming pool by the bar and a restaurant. Its a popular location for international bands.
This gig was much anticipated, the last time I saw Bloc Party was 2008 at Reading Festival and they played just before Radiohead. They were great but I was standing in a crush of perhaps 80,000 other people trying to see them.
They opened with ‘So he begins to lie’ from their new album Four. It quickly became apparent that we were in for a real treat. I was surprised at just how strong and clear his voice was and how tight the band were.
Bloc Party have always been a cross genre band – dance, indie, post punk, electronic rock with a definite London sound. Their ‘Four’ album is the heaviest album so far. It has the usual Bloc Party intensity but also a blistering sense of urgency that plays very well live.
Kele was confident and self assured on stage. He was in complete control the whole way through the gig. Chatting between songs and talking to the audience, he did struggle to understand some of the french language but happily submitted to the crowds request to give them more of his energy. He seemed to enjoy the banter with the crowd and visibly enjoyed seeing the crowd have a good time.
They were on a mission to take us on a journey and we went willingly. A few songs in and the crowd had warmed up enough for there to be a mosh pit and some crowd surfing, impressive considering its quite a small venue.
Towards the end Kele and the rest of the band threw some impressive shapes, they knew they were playing well and there was a real feeling of enthusiasm and enjoyment in the air.
The music from the new album was well received, about five new tracks were played in amongst plenty of songs from previous albums ‘A weekend in the city’ and ‘Silent alarm’ and ‘Intimacy’. The only disappointment was that they didn’t play ‘Kreuzberg’ or ‘The prayer’, two well loved favourites of ours.
The 90 minute set went by in a flash ending on a high with a mash up of Rhiannas we found love and Flux from A weekend in the city album.
The setlist:
So he begins to lie
Hunting for witches
Like eating glass
Waiting for the 7.18
Real talk
Kettling
Song for Clay
Banquet
Coliseum
Day
One more chance
Octopus
Ares
Sign
This modern love
We found love/flux
We left with sore bodies and hoarse voices, a sure sign of an enjoyable night.
If you get the chance I’d throughly recommend going to see them, especially in a small venue.
Amberpod
Jill’s not happy she missed this, although its a bit of a trek to watch a band 🙂 Seen BP before, but she loves them more than me!