Среда 15 Мар 2006, 13:00

This was a pretty low key tour for Bloc Party. A series of gigs at smaller venues with tickets only available to their fan club members. They'd promised that they would be road testing new material from their forthcoming new album. No surprise then that the gig sold out in short order…

Opening for Bloc Party were Komakino, an artist I'd previously seen supporting Hope Of The States back in November 2004. They were terrible then, and they're still terrible now. A wall of noise and indifferent screeching that purports to be singing, intersperced with quiet sections to display their mediocre guitar playing abilities. Playing to an army of hard core Bloc Party fans was always going to be tought but even so they left the stage to distinctly muted applause.

When the main act came on it was clear the crowd, and the band, were here to enjoy themselves. Tearing through s set of old and new songs the band seem relaxed and confident - even for the new tracks which they were supposedly road testing. New tracks such as 'Waiting For The 7.18' and the excellent 'Uniform' seemed polished and bode extremely well for the new album (which is due in September).

The mix of songs was just right - a smattering of new material to keep us interested and the majority of their acclaimed debut Silent Alarm to keep us happy. 'She's Hearing Voices', 'Blue Light' and 'Banquet' were dispatched early in the set, but it was the final two tracks of the main set, 'So Here We Are' and 'Helicopter' that really brought the house down. They returned after a few minutes to play a four set encore finishing up with 'Little Thoughts' and a promise to return to the road in September.

It's a promise I'm sure they'll keep and I'll definitely be catching them live again. I sent a one word text message to my girlfriend after the gig that says it all…

"Awesome"