Not a Bloc Party, a Pool Party. In addition to the free shows at the old pool this summer, there is also a line up of (music industry giant) clear-channel marketed events. I actually bought my $40 ticket to see this show before they announced the free ones. Having already been to one of the free shows a couple weeks back, I was curious to see what you got for your money. First, there was a big, now much discussed problem with getting a beer. Given it was like 95 degrees out, they probably could have quadrupled their money, had they sorted out the vending. That debacle aside, Clear Channel brought the goods as far as the pro stage, sound and lighting setup. They managed to transform the ‘challenging’ acoustical shell of the old pool into a pretty good sounding/looking venue. Of course, a pool filled with people instead of concrete doesn’t hurt acoustics either, and this sold out show certainly did that. It was actually pretty amazing to see the mass of people putting this old place to good use, despite what some of the neighbors say. A note about the above photo who have not been to the pool. The stage is set up along the “long” side of the retangular pool, so this should give you some idea of the scale of the place. The crowd itself was definitely not the same (read local hipster) group that attends the free (and more obscure) shows on Sundays. Let me just say it was more mixed in the type of way you would expect for large Clear Channel sponsored shows. I’ll leave it at that.
The show itself was pretty damn good though. Openers Mew and Secret Machines played great sets. I hadn’t seen Bloc Party for a couple of years, at what I referred to as their ‘New York coming out party’ The boys had freshly released their stunning debut record, and were still a bit wide eyed at all the praise. The band that played last weekend, still had the same energy and enthusiasm for the songs, but were obviously a much more well oiled machine, having toured on much of these songs for over 2 years now. Lead singer Kele Okereke told the crowd they’ve been under the radar for the last few months recording a new record. He seemed as impatient as the audience about hearing the new songs, lamenting that it should be out ’sometime after christmas’. Surprisingly, the band decided to keep most of the new songs under wraps, opening with ‘Waiting for the 718′ and later plugging in ‘Hunting for Witches’. I must say they didn’t really hold up to their older anthems, nor chart any interesting new direction. Perhaps they’re still trying to sort that out. It seemed especially odd to start with ‘718′, a song few people have heard. In total, it was an energetic, crowd pleasing romp through most of their best songs. I suppose my testament to the show is that the best songs wern’t the ‘party anthems’ but actually the slower songs like ‘Blue Light’ and ‘Compliments’ where the band was able to connect with the large audience without testing the limits of the sound and light system.
baonguyen has posted some more pics here.
: Bloc Party - Waiting for the 718 (live @ Coachella) : — (Thanks Stereogum)
