Bloc Party Review: Noughties Nostalgia On Their Own Terms

Bloc Party played at the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney on Friday, August 2nd. David James Young reviews.

Young The Giant‘s return down under after over a decade comes with a caveat: They’re performing to an audience that is almost entirely unfamiliar with them. It’s an immediate disadvantage, admittedly, but it’s to the Californian quintet’s credit that they take it in their stride. That’s quite a literal expression on frontman Sameer Gadhia’s behalf, too – right from the opening number, ‘Jungle Youth’, he prowls from left to right, seeking out those picking up what he’s putting down. Sure enough, he finds more and more as the set progresses.

Three songs later, the band go for the jugular and play their biggest hit, ‘Cough Syrup’. This, of course, is a bold strategy – you risk peaking early, with rest of the set living in that song’s shadow. As it turns out, though, a spirited rendition of the song that changed the band’s life almost 15 years ago is just the shot in the arm that the crowd needs. It garners instant recognition – ranging from people who will forever emotionally tie it to a devastating scene from Glee to those who merely it register it as “that song”. Either way you cut it, the tension is released and the band no longer faces an uphill battle against folded arms.

The only sore spot of their 45-minute dalliance with Sydney is that it doesn’t include ‘Apartment’, the third single from their self-titled debut. It’s arguably their best song outside of the aforementioned ‘Cough Syrup’, and deserves a perennial position on their setlist. Still, Gadhia and co. have plenty of tricks up their sleeves – namely, boisterious run-throughs of ‘Superposition’, ‘Mind Over Matter’ and the song that started it all, ‘My Body’. The pockets of dedicated fans peppered throughout the room eagerly await Young The Giant’s return – and, judging by their reception, a fair few newcomers will be joining them.

Young The Giant – ‘Cough Syrup’

It’s hard to fathom “celebrating 20 years of Bloc Party”, as this tour’s tagline goes – that is, until you see gaggles of young children running around the venue. They’re the children of the kids whose coming of age was soundtracked by albums like Silent Alarm and A Weekend In The City all those years ago. The London band have long since seen their crowds become an intergenerational affair, and have come to wholeheartedly embrace it. It’s nostalgia, certainly, but it’s entirely on the band’s own terms.

Tonight’s set begins in a subdued manner, opening with Silent Alarm‘s closing number ‘Compliments’. Longtime fans are aware of the song’s surprising power as a show-starter, with the band’s 2018 tour having seen them play the seminal album in reverse track order. Its steady groove and lush finger-picked guitars lull one into a false sense of security, only for the next song to come charging in like the Kool-Aid jug.

In this case, it’s ‘She’s Hearing Voices’, which also serves an early showcase of Bloc Party’s quote-unquote “new-guy” rhythm section: Harry Deacon on bass, now in his second year, and drummer Louise Bartle, now in her ninth. Still fresh on the scene when the band last toured in November 2023, Deacon is now settled and comfortable in the role, holding down the angular low-end with precision. As for Bartle, she has long since proven her mettle behind the kit and has become the band’s backbone as far as the live arena is concerned. Her speed is exhilarating, her fills blinding and her backing vocals are excellent to boot. Make no mistake, she’s not here to be the next Matt Tong – she’s here to be the first Louise Bartle.

As for frontman Kele Okereke and guitarist Russell Lissack, the band’s seemingly-ageless co-founders are well attuned to controlling crowds of this size – not least of all because they’ve played the Hordern Pavilion specifically close to ten times across their career. The seamless transition from ‘Song For Clay’ to ‘Banquet’, two of Bloc Party’s biggest and most beloved songs, is one they can pull off in their sleep, and yet has never lost steam since it came into the fray 18 years prior. Okereke knows damn well that when he calls for the audience to show him what they’ve got in the former and then calls for them to jump in the latter, procedure will be followed. Lissack, too, knows he has a riot-starter on his hands when he stabs out the riff to ‘Helicopter’. Even though you can only see one of his eyes because of the fringe, you just know there’s a glint in both.

Bloc Party – ‘Banquet’

Being a celebration of the band’s entire career, we stop off as early as their debut EP, 2004’s Little Thoughts, and as recently as 2022’s Alpha Games. ‘Skeleton’ is the night’s big surprise, capturing the frenetic energy of the band’s early days with all its heightened intensity and breathless chorus. ‘The Love Within’ is a surprise, too – albeit, admittedly, not exactly a pleasant one. It’s anyone’s guess why the band would opt for this hollow disco when the much better ‘Octopus’ from 2012’s Four was there for a mid-period excursion, but luckily a blistering ‘Luno’ washes the taste out.

The encore is a run for the ages: The tender EP cut ‘Tulips’, Silent Alarm‘s explosive intro ‘Like Eating Glass’, the robo-rave of ‘Flux’, the heart-shaped ‘This Modern Love’ and the seismic last dance that is ‘Ratchet’. Although they’re five fundamentally different songs on paper, each setting different moods and tones, they all make perfect sense under the Bloc Party banner and deserve their place in the band’s upper echelon. By the end of the show, it’s no longer hard to fathom 20 years of Bloc Party. Instead, it’s hard to fathom the last 20 years without them.

Bloc Party perform at the AEC Theatre in Adelaide tonight (Monday, August 4th) before heading to Perth HPC in Perth on Wednesday, August 6th and the Riverstage in Brisbane on Friday, August 8th. All remaining tickets for these shows are on sale now via Destroy All Lines.

Further Reading

Bloc Party: 10 Essential Tracks

Love Letter To A Record: Tom Snowdon Of No Mono On Bloc Party’s ‘Silent Alarm’

Kele Okereke Talks Bloc Party 2.0 & Giving Up The DJ Life