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Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Fan review...Berkeley Greek Theatre, 04.08.06

Gig: 04.08.06 - Berkeley, CA - Greek Theatre
Review: Nathan Tucker

The show began at 6:30pm, and Mew started their set just as my companions and I entered the Greek with plenty of daylight left. They seemed tight, and people reacted well, which was nice to see. The next band, Two Gallants, was also very good. By the time Broken Social Scene took the stage, it was finally getting dark, and they were excellent, as I expected. And then, after the scurry of roadies had died down, Bloc Party came on. They opened with 'Waiting for the 7.18', as I thought they would, and it worked very well, better than on some of the shoddy bootlegs I have.

Tuning his guitar, Kele announced proudly that this was the group's largest ever headlining gig and that to celebrate, we would all do the wave, which is apparently called the “Mexican wave” in England. Kele’s charisma and charm as a frontman is best described by one of the friends with whom I attended the show, walking down the street afterwards arm in arm with his girlfriend: “Kele Okereke? Oh I’d hit that. I’d hit that in a second!”.

The old songs were great, almost drowned out by the audience singing along, and the new songs were excellent, very tight and the crowd loved them. After 'Helicopter', the band went off stage. Knowing an encore was coming, the crowd was as loud as ever, chants of “more, more…” weaving in and out of cheers and murmurs. When Bloc Party finally came back on, they started with a new song, which, according to the slightly ripped setlist that my friend was handed by Kele after the show, is called 'Blue Moon'. During 'So Here We Are', Broken Social Scene singer and guitarist Kevin Drew came on with his wine glass raised, as if in toast to Bloc Party, to join Kele in singing “I figured it out”.

During 'Price of Gasoline', Kele meandered around the stage, putting Russell in a headlock and dragging him around for a bit during one of the verses. They closed with 'The Pioneers', and the final repetitions of “we will not be the last” sent the crowd crazy. Drumsticks were thrown, water bottles tossed, and setlists ripped from the stage and handed out to the fans in the very front. It was without doubt the best show I’ve ever been to.
Setlist: Waiting For The 7:18 / Positive Tension / Banquet / Blue Light / She's Hearing Voices / Hunting for Witches / This Modern Love / Like Eating Glass / Little Thoughts / Helicopter [encore] Blue Moon (England) / Price of Gasoline / So Here We Are / The Pioneers

Labels: Gig_reviews, Setlists

¶ 11:17 PM

Comments:

Decent review. Some more points about the concert:

Blue Light was dedicated to the "rad" fans that were waiting for the show at noon.

This Modern Love was the band's gift to Berkeley/Bay Area.

Several microphone malfunctions happened during the set but Kele was calm, cool and collected. He even thanked his expert "road hands" in between songs.

Lastly, there was a guy who somehow got on stage and gave Kele a big hug. He wanted Bloc Party to "play all night." Perhaps the funniest part of this incident was this guy asking the crowd before leaping, "You're going to catch me, right?" He landed safely (at least as far as I could see) and the energy of the concert carried on through the night. Bravo Bloc Party and I'll see you next time in the Bay.

# posted by

David : 7:07 AM

This was definitely the best concert I have been to. Broken Social Scene & Bloc Party was a nice combo and somehow they balanced each other out. My friend from Brazil got very excited to do the "Mexican Wave" as well.

The drunk man that appeared on stage to kinduv chat for a minute was sweet too.
Thanks for comin to the Greek!

# posted by

Jules : 10:35 PM

yeah, best concert ive ever been to as well

the drunk guy on stage was standing next to me for about half of the show, and was about a high school kid...

hunting for witches may very well be the greatest song ever

# posted by

spike : 11:27 PM

Man, it was a great night indeed, I was right front and center, and it was nice to see Kele so close! They played great even though there was technical difficulties. This venue was 5x bigger than the last Bay Area show they did at the Warfield. I liked Broken Social Scene as well as two gallants. I wish I can go over and over it again!

# posted by

Elsvette : 9:45 PM

i thought that kid told them to stop playing...haha, my ears must have been shot by that point, or i was exhausted from all the dancing.

i also remember kele giving the "road hand" a little pat on the head during one of the many microphone problems.

# posted by

Anonymous : 6:18 AM

It was a fun night except for the obnoxious people in front and behind me! The people in front of me didn't even like Bloc Party and they were in my way. And the ones behind were so annoying they sounded like 12 year olds... God but other than that it was a great night although it took them forever to set up it was amazing how many people there were! I saw one dad in the corner of my eye jumping around with his daughter it was so cute! lol Kele has so much energy! When he said "mexican wave" I thought he was being racist for a second being Mexican and all lol! Oh yeah another downer the t-shirts are way too big I bought a red one and it's like a large and the sleeves are too big. Can they consider actually getting a proper size. I left before the encore... I'm so sad I wanted to hear So here we are! but I thought they were only going to play new songs! well I had to make my 3 hour drive back to Madera and it was late but all in all great concert.
One of theri Roadies looks like Gordie! I swear! Are they related?
AdanaC

# posted by

Anonymous : 8:24 AM