TONIGHT MAKE ME UNSTOPPABLE

Bloc Party w Sebastian Grainger/Albert Hammond Jr.
March 25, 2007
(not so)Kool Haus

This show marks the third time I've seen Bloc Party, but first for A Weekend In The City, which has turned out to be my favourite album by these kids, as much as I love Silent Alarm, I find AWITC much more cohesive and mature than its predessor. Arrived at the venue at 9pm, midway through Sebastian's (aka the other half of DFA1979) set. It was...noisy. But good. I need to hear more of his solo stuff before I can form an opinion. Albert Hammond Jr.'s (aka the big-haired Stroke) set was surprisingly good, the tunes were poppy, summery and fun. His voice does come off a bit Julian-esque, but I really enjoyed his set. That being said, I wouldn't pay to see him headline a show.

BP went on at 10:50pm, late for a Sunday night show, but no one in attendance seemed to care. The room went bonkers from the opening note, as said before, Kele is probably my favourite frontman, he's incredibly captivating and charming. And the rythmn section is pretty rad too. Only complaint is that the mix was a little muddy for the first half of their set, it was really bass heavy, but it may have something to do with where I was standing the the cavernous venue. A plea to promoters in the city, stop using this venue for rock shows, it sounds like utter shit, and security are a bunch of twats. Setlist was a perfect blend of new and old, although Blue Light was sadly missed from the set. Oh, and Mr. Kevin Drew (aka who I have seen at the last 400 shows I've been to) came out during So Here We Are and sang back up. It was great.

Set List:

Song For Clay
Positive Tension
Hunting For Witches
Waiting For The 7:18
Banquet
Sunday
This Modern Love
Little Thoughts
The Prayer
Uniform
So Here We Are
Like Eating Glass

Encore:
I Still Remember
SRXT
She's Hearing Voices
Helicopter

Overall, a good show, not as good as the Opera House gig a couple years back OR their set on the island last year, but still good.

Check out explosive laughter's Flikr photo set from the show here.
Read Chart Magazine's review here.
Read Janice's review here.
Mike at fortherecords has a bunch of video links to their performances at MTV in Toronto here.
Read Now's review here.