Bloc Party @ Cockpit
By Kelvin Hui
So I'm waiting for my friend, in the freezing cold, who happens to be twenty minutes late yes that's you sara gill, I ain't even gonna bother putting your name in capitals. So tonight's gig sees the much anticipated return of London's newest love child Bloc Party for their 3rd gig in Leeds, counting the Leeds festival. On with the show...
Shiver me timbers it's not much warmer in the Cockpit tonight with the air-con on full blast, but this will be much appreciated later on though. It's so frickin cold I'm seeing polar bears, anyhows the first band on tonight were The Shivers and with a room in sub-zero temperatures the penguins came out to play; taking fashion tips from Paul Banks and co, these boys were dressed sharp as knives. The Shivers set was flawless and they teared out head bopping feet stomping indie-pop tunes, but I found the set a little bit dull. It was evident that these lads could really play but they lacked their own definitive style and with bands such as Biffy Clyro and Interpol running amok at the moment the music lacked the icing on the cake that was needed to make the set as inspirational as Jesus Christ on a Yamaha. Their performance was tight and furious but the music lacked the essentials that will put them in the league of the big boys.
The Mystery Jets are a rare breed of band. They set up with what looks like the standard guitars, drum kit, base combo but then perplexing looks come awry when the singer/drummer/keyboardist/modulator/Edward scissor hand lookalike arrives armed to the teeth with... well the entire back catalogue of scrap heap challenge. Their ability to collect other peoples junk and turn it into music for the dancing masses was second to none; I had never heard of this band before tonight but this set really set my musical radar onto red alert. Their music can only be described as the secret relationship that occurred between The Zutons, The Coral, !!! and Add N to X. Their set is an explosive mix of dance-indie, strange sound effects that would be perfectly comfortable in my Nintendo SNES and neck brakingly precise beats from the mysterious semi-afro hairhelmeted singer... wasn't sure on his choice of pink chorded flares though, but what he lacked in colour co-ordination he made up in giving us beats so danceable that I was instantly transported back through to the disco era. The confused and bewildered looks in the crowd slowly turned to a feet stomping appreciation for the fine art of collecting trash and beating the hell out of it. These guys bought the garbage all you gotta do now is dance.
It's now half nine and as I look behind me I realised that there is no way out as the crowd impatiently await the arrival of Bloc Party. The band receives one of the warmest welcomes I've seen for a long time and instantly I know hat this is gonna be good. They kick of their set with "The marshals are dead" and the crowd goes berserk; the Cockpit has been instantaneously transformed into a mangled mass of moving bodies, swaying and beating to the rhythm of Kele's and Russel's guitar. It's only the first song but these guys are shit hot.
Bloc Party does a ferocious redemption of "She's hearing voices" and being at the front might not have been the best idea but I'm loving it as I have my limbs amputated by the flurry of the pit. The action doesn't stop as they perform a bullet blistering, pogo popping extravaganza that is "Banquet", Kele pops his head up to see the masses of people singing "Turning away from the light, becoming adult, turning into my soul" he gives a quick smirk and thrashes out the rest of the song, picture moment.
The band takes a quick breather and the reaction form the crowd is immense, Kele introduces the next song and it's their new single "Helicopters" and the action continues, as they progressively reach towards the end of their set they play "Little thoughts" and I could feel my lungs collapse as a sudden tsunami of bodies surges forward. The set ends with "The answer" but the crowd wants more and you could see in the bands eyes that we were gonna get the encore. More dancing more pogoing on one leg and what a way to start the week. The grin on the bands face tells the whole story, watch out the Party is coming your way.
