Bloc Party >> came back to Tempe in a major this past Sunday. Straight out of vampire city east London the bloke party featured Kele and company and an opening set from my darling Dum Dum Girls out of LA.
Dum Dum Girls led the night off and warmed the crowd nicely with some cool California style rock lullabies. I've always been fascinated with this hot chick quartet but never thought a Best Coast style offense like this would ever team up with Bloc Party. An interesting band to lead off but a great set nonetheless. They have a great style both musically and in their demeanor. They played 'Lord Knows' and 'Coming Down' was a nice add to the latter part of the set. I missed my favorite of their songs 'Bedroom Eyes' while in the beer line but it sounded solid. I decided that the lead singer belongs in my hot rock chicks tribute. It's settled.
The headlining Bloc Party got their set going with their Four opening track 'So He Begins To Lie' followed by the album's first single 'Octopus'. I love the way this song begins all futuristic and such. I liked it when they first dropped the video this summer and it only took their first song at Outside Lands in August to move that song into my favorites with 'Hunting For Witches' which they followed with.
Kele was sick - like literally sick. It was a slightly shorter show you'd expect from a headliner's first return in Four years but he was somewhat straining his voice deep into the set and apologetically moving into softer and less demanding tracks like 'Blue Light'. I can appreciate their veering away from a Four tour dominated setlist and shredding on my favorites from the early releases like 'One More Chance' and 'Banquet' then an encore sequence with 'So Here We Are', 'Flux' and of course, 'Helicopter'.
Check out some of the aforementioned faves below and as always the rest of the evening footage can be found on the zBORED YouTube channel. Cheerio.
