Bloc Party @ The Anthem [DC] - 9/16/2019
Kele Okereke of Bloc Party taking it all in at The Anthem (Photo by Mauricio Castro)
During the mid-2000s British indie rock boom, Bloc Party stood alongside the likes of Franz Ferdinand, Arctic Monkeys, and Kaiser Chiefs on the front pages of Spin, Pitchfork, NME, and more. A cavalcade of guitar-driven music sent a shock of energy throughout the UK that almost made you forget that Britpop was ever a thing. In 2019, only a fraction of the bands from that era remain. But Bloc Party will always be synonymous with that era, and that association goes a long way. Long enough, in fact, to pack out a place like The Anthem in celebration of their 2005 debut album, Silent Alarm.
Yes, things have changed since the halcyon days of British indie rock. Original drummer Pete Tong and bassist Gordon Moakes have long since left the band and disappointingly weren't present for the current tour. Still, the guitar-driven sound that Kele Okereke and Russel Lissack brought to the masses so long ago and still remain. The omission of Tong, whose inimitable rhythm is so present in the likes of "Helicopter" and "Banquet," may rub some devoted fans the wrong way. But drummer Louise Bartle didn't miss a beat, and Lissack is still just as wild a performer on stage with his dozen-plus foot pedals. So it's all really down to perception. Is some of the spark of the original lineup gone? Sure – 14 years of existence and a lineup change will do that to any album or band. But the current iteration of Bloc Party are still raring for a fight. And in the end, you still have thousands of people singing along to an album that not only helped define the musical paths of individual listeners, but also an entire country. (It worked for The Killers, right?) Nostalgia and goodwill go a long way.
The quartet performed the album in full and in reverse order. They started with "Every Time is the Last Time" and "Compliments" and ended with "Helicopter" and "Like Eating Glass." They didn't neglect the rest of their discography either, throwing in an encore with five songs from their other albums, such as "Flux" and "Ratchet."
Opening for Bloc Party were NYC-based indie-pop group Cults. Their latest release is the 2018 EP Motels, released via Sinderlyn.
