Bloc Party Live @ The Guildhall, Southampton

Review by Chris Waugh

So here we are. Although quite how we got into this state of confusion, alienation, injustice and disaffection we're not entirely sure. But enough musing on post-9/11, post 7/7 Britain! This is a rock concert! We've come here to forget all that!

Or have we? Our beloved Bloc Party are back for the inaugral night of their sell out tour with a set that has more mood swings and contradictions than a menopausal schizophrenic Zen Buddhist. With a hangover.

Without delving too deeply into the many merits of new album 'A Weekend In The City' and Kele Okereke's love-hate affair with the UK, specifically his East London home of Shoreditch, it must be said that tonight's gig veers between songs so diametrically opposed in terms of mood and outlook that the show becomes somewhat of an emotional rollercoaster.

Moments of triumphant heroic adulation for the uplifting and hope-filled older songs such as 'Positive Tension' and 'Banquet' are countered repeatedly by the finger-wagging warnings and social criticism of the new tracks.

That's not to say the new tracks don't rock; by God they do. 'Song for Clay' broods and sulks with pent up frustration before bursting outward with the furious relief of having got something awful and nagging off one's chest.
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