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Sunday, March 12, 2006
The fan club tour: my summary
With the fan club tour finishing in Norwich last Saturday, I thought I'd write a bit about the new songs that were premiered.
I was lucky enough to go to the Nottingham leg of the tour, and I have to say it was one of the most enjoyable, and sweaty, gigs I've been to. Congratulations must go to whoever chose Komakino as the support band - they were excellent in Nottingham, setting things up nicely for Bloc Party.
All the setlists for the dates are in the setlists post. I'll try to update this, so feel free to send me setlists of any BP gigs that you go to.
In total, ten brand new songs were played over the eight gigs. Below is a list of the songs in the order they were premiered, and my first impressions from what I heard in Nottingham and from other fans' videos! By the way, I've never been great at describing things, so excuse my poor attempt at music journalism!
'Machine': lives up to its title...Matt Tong provides a mechanical drum beat and the main guitar riff is reminiscent of the chorus guitar line in 'Price Of Gasoline'. The song begins and ends a cappella with the chorus lyrics: "People are afraid to merge on the freeways, people are afraid to merge".
'Hunting For Witches': 'Helicopter' Mark II? Russell or Kele opens the song with a VERY cool guitar effect, then Russell comes in with a riff which reminds me of the intro riff in 'Helicopter'. Kele sings something about "sitting on the roof of my house", with a "six-pack of beer, six-pack of beer, six-pack of beer".
'Waiting For The 7.18': I love the atmosphere of this song. Quite melancholy sounding. Starts off with warm, ambient chords, and has a soaring, mainly instrumental chorus. Features Gordy on the glockenspeil! If anyone knows what the 7.18 is and would like to enlighten me, please do!
'Wet': haven't heard this song yet, but described by Gordy as being "a brooding dancefloor-type thing, and quite druggy."
'A Momentary Loss Of Control': haven't heard this song yet!
'Uniform': possibly Bloc Party's longest song to date? Has a gentle opening and outro, but a crazy, driving middle section. Contains an amazing guitar solo and some vocal sounds to match the "hey"s at the start of 'She's Hearing Voices'! My favourite new song from what I've heard so far.
'It Started In An Afternoon': a grandiose, tender song in a similar vein to 'So Here We Are'. Ends with a refrain of "I still remember".
'Atonement': can't really remember this one, but I think it was a slow song! Mentioned as a possible centerpiece of the album.
'Rhododendrons': haven't heard this song yet! Continues the flowery theme started by 'Tulips'!
'Blue Moon': a beautiful, slower song, with some lovely floating guitar lines. Key lyric: 'I'm waiting to crash into you, I'm waiting for that blue moon'
Things are looking very promising for the second album! It'll be really interesting to hear how the songs change when they're recorded.
With the fan club tour finishing in Norwich last Saturday, I thought I'd write a bit about the new songs that were premiered.
I was lucky enough to go to the Nottingham leg of the tour, and I have to say it was one of the most enjoyable, and sweaty, gigs I've been to. Congratulations must go to whoever chose Komakino as the support band - they were excellent in Nottingham, setting things up nicely for Bloc Party.
All the setlists for the dates are in the setlists post. I'll try to update this, so feel free to send me setlists of any BP gigs that you go to.
In total, ten brand new songs were played over the eight gigs. Below is a list of the songs in the order they were premiered, and my first impressions from what I heard in Nottingham and from other fans' videos! By the way, I've never been great at describing things, so excuse my poor attempt at music journalism!'Machine': lives up to its title...Matt Tong provides a mechanical drum beat and the main guitar riff is reminiscent of the chorus guitar line in 'Price Of Gasoline'. The song begins and ends a cappella with the chorus lyrics: "People are afraid to merge on the freeways, people are afraid to merge".
'Hunting For Witches': 'Helicopter' Mark II? Russell or Kele opens the song with a VERY cool guitar effect, then Russell comes in with a riff which reminds me of the intro riff in 'Helicopter'. Kele sings something about "sitting on the roof of my house", with a "six-pack of beer, six-pack of beer, six-pack of beer".
'Waiting For The 7.18': I love the atmosphere of this song. Quite melancholy sounding. Starts off with warm, ambient chords, and has a soaring, mainly instrumental chorus. Features Gordy on the glockenspeil! If anyone knows what the 7.18 is and would like to enlighten me, please do!
'Wet': haven't heard this song yet, but described by Gordy as being "a brooding dancefloor-type thing, and quite druggy."
'A Momentary Loss Of Control': haven't heard this song yet!
'Uniform': possibly Bloc Party's longest song to date? Has a gentle opening and outro, but a crazy, driving middle section. Contains an amazing guitar solo and some vocal sounds to match the "hey"s at the start of 'She's Hearing Voices'! My favourite new song from what I've heard so far.
'It Started In An Afternoon': a grandiose, tender song in a similar vein to 'So Here We Are'. Ends with a refrain of "I still remember".
'Atonement': can't really remember this one, but I think it was a slow song! Mentioned as a possible centerpiece of the album.
'Rhododendrons': haven't heard this song yet! Continues the flowery theme started by 'Tulips'!
'Blue Moon': a beautiful, slower song, with some lovely floating guitar lines. Key lyric: 'I'm waiting to crash into you, I'm waiting for that blue moon'
Things are looking very promising for the second album! It'll be really interesting to hear how the songs change when they're recorded.
Look at Matt go!
Photos taken by Anant Naik at the Bedford gig.
Labels: Gig_reviews
¶ 10:53 PM
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Damn! I can't wait to hear those new songs. I'm insanly jealous of those who went to the gig ;_;
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# posted by 
: 5:42 PM
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