Bloc Party wrapped up their stay at Terminal 5 (night 3 setlist, video, review)
by Andrew Sacher
Bloc Party at Terminal 5 – 8/7/12 (more by Dana (distortion) Yavin)
Terminal 5 flooded with blues and purples last night (8/9), revealing a bull’s-eye on the back wall, as a a building synth filled the venue and Bloc Party walked out to play their new single, “Octopus,” one of their most Silent Alarm-y songs since Silent Alarm. In the song’s chorus, as Kele shouted “come on!,” he reached out his arms and waved his fingers to rile up the crowd, and when Bloc Party followed that song with A Weekend In The City favorite, “Hunting for Witches,” and the arms-raised singalong, “Positive Tension,” the energy in Terminal 5 took off.
Like The Strokes and Interpol, Bloc Party are one of the many post-punk revivalists of the early 00’s with two great albums who were plagued by an awful case of third album syndrome. For the two former bands, it was a case of over-polishing their sound. For Bloc Party, they went in a total synth pop direction that works for some but was totally unwelcome for this group of Brits, who had made some of the most vital guitar rock of the last decade. Not to mention it’s taken Bloc Party four years to follow that album, and over three since they’ve played NYC, during which time rumors began floating around that Kele was kicked out of the band. So when they made their return, I wasn’t without my doubts, but Bloc Party didn’t once fail to deliver. The show was their last in a sold out three-night run which also hit the NYC venue on Tuesday (8/7) and Wednesday (8/8). Despite telling the crowd that he’s not a huge fan of doing three-night runs in the same venue, Kele was in super high spirits the whole time. The setlist was great too — we got four new ones (including iTunes bonus track, “Black Crown”) and tons of old favorites like “Banquet,” “Helicopter,” “This Modern Love,” and more.
Four isn’t exactly a “comeback record” for the band, but it’s their most guitar-centric since Silent Alarm and doesn’t sound like they are trying to prove anything on it. It pulls as much (or more) from stoner rock as it does from the post-punk they initially made a career out of, which was a totally unexpected turn but I can’t say it wasn’t pretty badass hearing Bloc Party whip out sludgey power chords on “Team A” and “Black Crown” last night. And when I left the show right after hearing “Helicopter” and complaining that they didn’t play “Like Eating Glass” like they had the night earlier, it was “Octopus” that was stuck in my head.
Like they had done the previous two nights, The Drums opened the show. Bloc Party’s setlist and a video of them playing “Helicopter” from last night are below.
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Bloc Party – “Helicopter” at Terminal 5 8/9/12
Bloc Party at Terminal 5 – 8/9/12 Setlist:
Octopus
Hunting for Witches
Positive Tension
Waiting for the 7.18
Song for Clay (Disappear Here)
Banquet
Team A
So Here We Are
One More Chance
This Modern Love
The Prayer
Encore 1:
Day Four
Black Crown
Ares
Flux
Encore 2:
Sunday
Helicopter
