Photo: Aaron Sammut

Southerners Van She have clearly become better with practice – their synth-heavy, new wave pop sounds more accomplished than ever tonight, and singles like Changes and Kelly go down well with the bi-curious bogan crowd.

Although Bloc Party’s most recent album saw them take a detour into electronic sounds, tonight, the group are firmly in rock band mode. Their set does not match the raw power of their Splendour 2005 performance – it comes close, especially during Silent Alarm-era tracks – but the crowd are so excited that Kele and the boys feed off their energy, growing bolder as the evening goes.  Drummer Matt Tong is one of the group’s greatest assets, and his tightly-wound disco punk beats on Banquet, Halo and Hunting For Witches make those tracks come thrillingly to life. The early part of the set is, indeed, pretty incredible. “I actually feel like a rock star,” a smiling Kele Okereke says after a bristling performance of Positive Tension. “Shame I don’t look like one.” Unfortunately, though, the band follow this up with a momentum-killing version of Waiting For The 7.18. Recent single Mercury gets an outing, and although the crowd are excited to hear it, nobody really knows how to dance to the bustling beats and scary horn samples. Kele invites couples in the crowd to cuddle up together during the chiming, beautiful Sunday – with its ‘I love you in the morning when you’re still hung over’ chorus, it’s one of Bloc Party’s best songs, and it goes down a treat tonight. I’ve been waiting all show long for Flux, but when it finally comes, it falls a little flat – a green laser, seemingly borrowed from Daft Punk, flashes on the crowd, but the song fizzles where it should bang, and the sequenced keyboard all but drowns out Kele’s vocals. A storming Helicopter closes the set, a reminder of how excellent Bloc Party can be when their more sulky, sullen tendencies aren’t getting the better of them.

ALASDAIR DUNCAN

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