Anyway, I settled down with a pint and listened to a really good set by the DJ (including The Charlatans, Joy Division, and The Arcade Fire) while waiting for the support band, Pretty Girls Make Graves. The place was filling up nicely and the atmosphere was really good. Then Pretty Girls Make Graves hit the stage. Announcing their hometown as Seattle, Washington, I really felt that following in such a glorious musical tradition, they would kick ass. I just didn’t enjoy them. Although, I did see Russell from Bloc Party out watching them from the back of the hall. I said hello to him, and in hindsight I should have bought him a beer.

Pretty Girls were enthusiastic, energetic and slightly engaging, but also very monotonous. Each track sounded similar to the one that preceded it. Anything sounding remotely like the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s has an easy time of it these days. Wondering to myself if I was the only one who felt this way, I asked some people in the crowd what they thought. I was not alone. One guy went as far as to say they were the worst band he had ever seen live. This guy was about 42 and told me he had been going to see the Stones since 1982. Now, he must have been to see a lot of bands…I’m sorry, but that’s what happened! The most interesting part of their set was when the singer got hit with a pint.

Bloc Party then, thankfully, took to the stage, and were straight in about the Barras with 'Like Eating Glass' and 'Positive Tension' in quick succession, as the crowd went mental. What a light show – really interesting and complimented the music no end. I love Bloc Party’s singles, but I feel that the rest of their stuff is samey and gets lost easily. Basically, the gig formed a plateau until 'Banquet' and 'Helicopter' arrived, sending the crowd nuts again. It followed a similar vein until a rather controlled encore brought the gig to a close.

Bloc Party are a really dynamic band, and jump around like speed-driven Smurfs having the time of their lives. Kele is an excellent frontman, going so far as to dedicate a few tunes to people in the crowd, and machine-gunning the audience with his Telecaster on a few occasions. Russell is one of the finest new guitarists I have had the pleasure of watching, very cool and calm until his solos when he loses the plot and turns into a frenetic little hurricane, his (by now probably much copied and possibly trademarked) fringe flopping about like crazy. Matt and Gordon are the foundation, a great rhythm section with excellent backing vocals from Gordon, and a great knack of engaging the audience from Matt. They blend together really well, and the interplay between Kele and Russell is inspiring.

I thoroughly enjoyed watching them, I just feel that too much of their material gets lost in a wave of similarity – there are only so many tunes you can write that go along spikily, nearly lose it, come back, nearly lose it again, then go somewhere else, and return at the end where they started.

I left the gig in a bittersweet mood, happy to have seen them, but expecting more, and probably let down because of that. Possibly too much of that good ole MTV2 hype…

I did leave, though, with the unshakeable notion that this band is for real. Surely, in today’s constant shit storm of media-driven drivel, and the constant strive for "originality", their sincerity and realness has to be worth something.

Martin Cassidy