Open Up Your Cellies, Kids: Bloc Party at the Pavilion

Last year Bloc Party headlined at the Paradise – this year it was the Bank of America Pavilion. What the hell happened? Did they release something new? Nope. Then what? Oh… MTV2 happened. OK, fair enough. They now have a large enough audience to (sort of) fill the Pavilion, but do they have a large enough set list? Objectively, no, not really.

Bloc Party released its first (and so far, only) album, Silent Alarm, over a year ago. A few months later, they released a digitized version of their critically acclaimed danceable rock tracks (Silent Alarm, Remixed). But that doesn’t count – it the same damn (but awesome) album. But if it’s any consolation, they did release a couple singles and the group is working on their sophomore album, which, according to Pitchfork, they’re about half done with.

So, back to the point: Did the Pavilion’s audience pay $30 to hear Bloc Party play straight through their one album? Kind of...Truth be told, until their set-list expands a little more, Bloc Party seems more suited to smaller, more intimate venues like the Paradise. They have one album.

Anyway, getting past shallow pockets and strong concert principles, the show was good, except for a few technical problems. Luckily, the glitches were resolved by the time Bloc Party took the stage. The opening bands, however, Mew and Secret Machines (who sounded like a broke-down Rush cover band), seemed to have suffered from roadie hangovers. Both openers played with uneven sound and annoying backlighting which only silhouetted the acts.

The audience, 90 percent of whom looked like future Urban Outfitters and American Apparel employees, didn’t seem to pay much attention to the opening bands, but they greeted Bloc Party with admiration. And Bloc Party treated them with an unusual amount of respect. Lead singer Kele Okereke made jokes (“This ain’t no tea party, Boston. This is Bloc Party”), while guitarist Gordon Moakes encouraged the audience to dance.

The set list wasn’t disappointing, but it resembled Silent Alarm a little too much (need we need to remind you of the concert principles?). After starting off the set with an excellent new tune called “Waiting for the 7.18,” they played tracks 3 through 6 (yes, in that same order) off Silent Alarm. Although, the order of the songs seemed less than creative, at least Bloc Party played them well and we’d be surprised if much of the audience even noticed. Between the rainbow lights and Okereke’s animated stage presence, the music only composed one part of this concert experience.

Okereke is by far one of most magnetic personalities in music today. He’s not afraid of the audience, nor does he think he’s superior to them. At one point he jumped into the audience, dancing around with the leggings-clad kids. At another point, he invited a guy on stage who got so nervous he forgot the words to “Price of Gasoline.” (Luckily, he didn’t lose all of his street cred – he remembered the background grunts.) In an awesomely euro moment, harkening back to Kraftwerk concerts in Moscow, Okereke urged the audience to open their cellies – using the glow like lighters.

At just 10 songs, the set list was a little shorter than expected (after all, there are 14 songs on Silent Alarm), but they came back out for a four-song encore and closed with “Pioneers,” a crowd favorite, not least because of one of the most talented drummers in the business today, Matt Tong.

One last note about the Pavilion – they have a very lax bag-checking policy. Next time, bring your own beverages and save yourself $3.50 on water or $8 (!) on a brew.

Review contributed by Marissa Payne. Image courtesy Flickr user davduf.