May 2007, Tabernacle, Atlanta, Ga.
The funny thing about this show is, as much as I looked forward to going, I don’t remember that much about it. I went to this show by myself, my wife was 8 months pregnant, and I thought “Well, if I’m going to see concerts, I should go see them now before the baby is born, because concerts won’t be as easy to get to with a baby in the house.”
And that’s true, somewhat, but not much anymore. Still, going to Atlanta for a show from Athens takes some planning and is never as easy as it should be — a trip to Atlanta can take an hour, or three hours, depending on the traffic. Last year during the snow storm it took some people days to get through the town. Atlanta traffic is terrible.
Bloc Party, however, is not. A British band whose debut album Silent Alarm was creative and exhilarating, Bloc Party brought an indie swagger to their songs, with sometime biting, political lyrics. “Helicopter” calls former President Bush (W) all sorts of nasty things, with the refrain “He’s born a liar, he’ll die a liar/Some things will never be different” getting straight to the point. Kele Okereke, aside from having an awesome name, is a strong lead singer, wielding a steady presence in interviews I read and saw him in.
So I traveled down to the Tabernacle, a fine place to see a show (I watched Snow Patrol, Flaming Lips and the Decemberists perform there over the years), as Bloc Party was touring on their sophomore effort A Weekend in the City. I didn’t enjoy Weekend as much as Silent Alarm, the band tended to go more electronic for the newer album, eschewing some of the sounds and ideas that made Silent Alarm so great. The drums, so important in Silent Alarm, fall off in Weekend — there’s an urgency in the debut album that’s hard to deny.
As for the show, certain parts point through my brain. There was great affection for drummer Matt Tong, who drew a great applause when he came out just before the show to check the drum set. Tong’s driving beat is a defining character, and I watched him most of the show to see how he’s able to keep the pace going. He was wiry and up to the challenge, though he must be exhausted after every show.
Kele was front and center, amidst the blue and white lights blaring out the background. He showed more passion for the newer songs — “Song for Clay (Disappear Here),” “Hunting for Witches,” “The Prayer” — than for the ones I was most there to hear (“Banquet,” “Like Eating Glass,” “She’s Hearing Voices”). I get that — at this point they were playing those Silent Alarm songs for four years, the new material is what drove them. But the band understood the power of “Helicopter” — it was a song the crowd ached to hear, and Bloc Party knew not to passively make its way through, if that’s possible. I also think Kele enjoyed a crowd of Americans yelling back the lyrics of a song disparaging the country’s president.
All in all, a good show, but didn’t stand out as an all-time great.
