Bloc Party have been hanging around all day here, flitting in and out of the press tent, big smiles on their faces. Back in the halcyon/wilderness (delete as appropriate) years of the late 90s, Kele Okereke and Russell Lissack first met at Reading Festival and decided to form a band - tonight, then,...
Bloc Party have been hanging around all day here, flitting in and out of the press tent, big smiles on their faces. Back in the halcyon/wilderness (delete as appropriate) years of the late 90s, Kele Okereke and Russell Lissack first met at Reading Festival and decided to form a band – tonight, then, is a sort of homecoming.
They’ve come a long way from the group who opened the NME/Radio 1 Tent a few years ago. Every song in their set is greeted as if it had been a No 1 hit., but it’s ‘The Prayer’ that stands out as Bloc Party‘s biggest – and best – song.
Two girls in front of us might be wearing trouser legs on their heads, but the heat isn’t so strong as to have tired everyone out. By the time ‘So Here We Are’ emerges, the sun is blazing straight onto the stage, illuminating the band.
“Get your air horns out for this next one!” shouts Kele, before they perform first single ‘She’s Hearing Voices’.
Bloc Party have amassed an army of great songs and, despite their sometimes over-rehearsed performances, they’ve finally matured to a great festival band.
Words: Tom Pinnock
Pic credit: Andy Willsher
