Bloc Party @ Alexandra Palace

Back to Ally Pally, still a rubbish venue. It took me forever to get there, which made me miss the first supporting act, FOALS. That is a real shame as I was told that they are really cool live, even though I haven't been massively impressed by what I heard from them on the radio.

I did catch a few songs of The Rakes. Well, not much to say really: Typical UK indie, they reminded me a bit of Editors, but less dark - i.e. not as good. Their performance was neither good nor bad, either: They're fine musicians but nothing caught my attention.

As for Bloc Party, they were on fire! Kele was quite chatty, telling us about his mum being in the audience, as a sex toy was thrown on the stage... The crowd was really young; as soon as the drums kicked in, half way through the first song, 'Song for Clay', they went nuts. And they didn't stop till the end, as the band played a good 1h45, including 2 encores.
The highlight was clearly Flux, their latest single. That song is pure genius, the more I hear it the more I love it - and it was much better live! The last song, The Pioneers, was also fantastic, and it is a song I had kind of missed in their first album, so I re-discovered it at the gig. That's always a great feeling.

The precise set-list was (courtesy of Tom):

Song For Clay (Disappear Here)
Positive Tension
Hunting For Witches
Waiting For the 7.18
Banquet
This Modern Love
The Prayer
Two More Years
Little Thoughts
Uniform
So Here We Are
Like Eating Glass
————
Flux
Sunday
She’s Hearing Voices
Helicopter
————
The Pioneers