In March, Bloc Party announced that they would be doing a short US tour playing their debut album, Silent Alarm, in its entirety. The first official show of the tour was set to take place in Washington, DC at The Anthem. The band also added a stop at Riot Fest in Chicago just a few days before the start of the 7-date tour. As I often do, I read a little about their last few performances to see if I could glean any information about what I could expect from the show. I happened upon a pretty bad review of their set at Riot Fest. The review really dashed my expectations for the show, but I had resolved that I was going to wait and see. I am happy to report that regardless of what that particular reviewer thought of their Riot Fest performance, Monday’s show at The Anthem was anything but “ho hum”. 

In addition to playing the 14-track album in reverse order, the band also performed a 5 song encore. Prior to the show, I thought that the choice to play the album in reverse order was an odd one, but after the experience, I can say that it absolutely was the right choice. Most people will probably attribute the choice to play the album back to front to the album being front-loaded with some of the bands most well known songs, but I don’t think that is the reason. I think the real reason they played the album in reverse is because of energy and the opportunity for a high energy climax. Judging by the crowd reaction at The Anthem on Monday night, this album is near and dear to many a fans heart. Fans sung along all night long. 

Bloc Party opened with a small snippet of the hidden track “Every Time is the Last Time”, which served as an intro before segueing into the last song on the album, “Compliments”. The lights stayed mostly low for the entire first song, barely revealing the sparse snowy album cover art backdrop at the rear of the stage. “Compliments” was the perfect way to start the show: quiet, somber, and moody. Next, after a brief greeting, they went right into “Plans”, and fans kept beat by clapping along with the extremely tight drumming of semi-newish member Louise Bartle. When the song was over, singer Kele Okereke joked with the crowd that he could “smell weed in here”, then continued “Let’s get this party started. Come on Washington.”

Justin Harris kicked off the fast paced and confrontational “Luno” with his pulsating bass. Okereke sang “And your nose is bleeding” before telling the crowd “I can’t hear you!” to which the crowd spit the same words right back in his face, but even louder the second time. But the crowd really seemed to come to life during a rousing performance of “The Pioneers”. As he started to introduce the next song, he stopped himself before finishing, and told the crowd, “Well, I guess you can probably work out what this is” and then going right into fan favorite “This Modern Love”.

When performing, “She’s Hearing Voices”, as Okereke sang the lyrics, “red pill, blue pill”, the stage lights alternated between deep red and deep blue light in unison with the lyrics. A nice visual touch. The pace slowed down on “Blue Light”, during which the stage and crowd were coincidentally bathed in blue light. It was during this song that the choice to play the album in reverse made the most sense to me. “Blue Light” is the fifth song on the album, and it is preceded by four fast paced rockers. In reverse order, however, “Blue Light” gives you a small break before ascending song by song to a climax, and what an ascent it is. The album contains three singles in a row with hardly a moment of downtime: “Banquet”, “Positive Tension”, and “Helicopter” all performed in quick succession.

“Like Eating Glass” was the climax and perhaps one of their best known and most beloved songs. Okereke raised his fingertips and wiggled them back and forth in time with the two-pronged wavering of Russell Lissack’s guitar and Justin Harris’s bass that opens the track. The crowd followed Okereke’s lead. All hands were in the air, fingers wiggling right in time with Okereke, Lissack and Harris. The crowd enthusiastically sang every single word until Bartle hit that final beat, upon which she exhaustively threw her drumsticks into the air signaling the climax of Silent Alarm in reverse. It was a perfect display of the culmination of the collective heart and soul that Bloc Party poured into the nearly one-hour performance.

After a brief break, the band returned and Okereke told the crowd, “We’re going to play some songs that are not Silent Alarm, but are equally as good, if not better!” Okereke introduced the 2004 single ‘Tulips’ as “a golden oldie for the real fans.”  Then they played four more songs for a five song total encore that included “Hunting For Witches”  and “Flux”, both from their 2007 sophomore record A Weekend In The City, and the 2013 single “Ratchet”. 

If you didn’t catch Bloc Party in Chicago, DC, Philadelphia or Boston, if you hurry, you can still get tickets for the New York show as well as two California shows (if you happen to be on the West coast or can make the trek), here. You can also pick up the just released ‘Silent Alarm Live’ album on vinyl, CD, or digital download through their store, here.

Enjoy these photos from Bloc Party performing at The Anthem on September 16th. All photos copyright and courtesy of Shantel Mitchell Breen.