Bloc Party at The Apple Store

Bloc Party at The Apple Store

13 October, 2008
by: Evolmike

It's a confusing scene on Regent Street as smatterings of lost, confused officials amble in small circles by the door of the Apple store, and a swollen, unregulated queue of competition winners and fanboys wraps itself around the unsuspecting building. Eventually we are ushered clumsily into the lobby and are encouraged to slowly make our way towards the 'venue.' Until now I never understood why the apple store is so massive and full of so much empty space. As it turns out it's not because a giant lives there; it's because one occasionally visits.

Bloc Party are playing their first ever 'iGig' tonight, and the boys are led into the fray (from a side entrance, lol) to a boisterous crowd, keen to express their excitement at being so close to their heroes. Blasting into new song 'One Month Off', it becomes clear that this is going to be an extremely loud hour. But with Bloc Party, it's not the pounding rhythms that shake the room, it's the searing industrial noise that emanates from their magic effects boxes. You know the one I mean, the sound of a thousand angels scraping a nuclear lawnmower across the sky. When it's this loud, the ringing left in your ears is actually the same as the sound you were hearing. It's a whole different kind of catchy. Now that's progress.

And progress is what Bloc Party represent to a lot of people. They seem like a futuristic band, drawing their sound from all corners of modern music to create a sort of monstrous techno-disco-indie-punk basilisk. New song 'Mercury' is a good example. You hear the record and with the automated drum loops and vocal sampling, you think you're listening to a remix, but that really is how they do it live. This particular rendition was somewhat sparked up by Kele who, freed from his guitar, takes it on himself to wander into the audience, climbing acrobatically over seats with no particular trajectory, through a sea of squealing, camera-phone-wielding girls (one of whom got flattened by Kele's frame as he lost his footing and toppled elbow-first into her, but I think she loved it and will probably never wash the bruised area again.)

It's principally their newer songs in which they're branching out, both technically and instrumentally, so you can just about forgive them for a slight decline in the quality. Fortunately, tonight we're also treated to popular hits like 'Banquet' and 'Helicopter', songs good enough to sustain their shows through whatever stylistic tunnels they feel like exploring in the next few years.

This iGig is a yardstick in the ever-changing nature of the music industry. They're playing a gig in a shop. An actual shop. Because the shop has more power and influence than any venue or promoter. "Bloc Party... now appearing at British Homestores" quips Matt Tong. He may be joking, but maybe this really is a chilling vision of things to come. Before you know it we'll be going to all-night Tesco raves. And I'm not talking about Techno-Disco, though ironically that's probably what we'll be listening to.

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Evolmike