一大早起床先驅車前往Century City和一個craiglist上賣票的傢伙碰面，一開始高速公路還算順暢，直到接上10號整個堵到不行。他上班的地點位在兩棟很壯觀的摩天大樓Century Plaza Towers(沒記錯的話)，停車超級貴的沒記錯20分鐘就要十幾塊美金，還好他可以幫我弄到一個小時的parking permit。才一個早上就見識到了LA恐怖的交通和高消費。
據說這家是全美GC的總店。姑且不論是否有此一說法，論規模日落大道這家真的比我去過的其他四間(San Francisco, San Jose, San Bernadino and Rancho Cucamonga)大上許多。而且別具特色的entrance更是和Hollywood中國戲院前那一片地磚相呼應!
Still remember the very first song I heard from them was This Modern Love. The guitar was beautiful (since I've been always want a Fender Telecaster.) And when it comes to the vocal, Kele did amazing job. Every words was so honest like coming from the bottom of the heart, simply catchy and outstanding. Then not to mention other hits from the album Silent Alarm. Although due to the military service restriction, I'm not that familiar with the second album. Yet their show won't disappointed me, even though the bassist Gordon is not able to join this tour. I'm so sure of that.
During the half an hour setting, me and Ashleigh kept on talking about the instruments on stage. Such as, “oh do you see Russell's Tele? So many cute stickers on the pickguard! man!......” Yeah almost crazy because we're so close to the stage and can see everything. Can't believe we're freaking close to a band like Bloc Party but not a small local band in town. I also found Matt's setlist stick onto the amp or something besides him. Yet it's too far so we can only tell there's about 10~15 songs, which is totally not enough!!
I don't know how to describe the excitement of the crowd. But After the first notes drop of Waiting For The 7.18, all we can do is enjoy it and follow the music. It's like Kele took us to somewhere that we've never been to. Just like Prince, Black can always have different touch in Rock, which is unique and with tension. Then is Hunting For Witches, one of my favorite from the second album. Russel's doing guitar effect, then Matt's solid drumming. The lyrics is also cool and full of attitude. Maybe Bloc Party can be categorized as some kind of post-punk/disco-punk band like other hypes, somehow the lyrics and attitude will be a lot different though. After the warm and sweet Blue Light comes their world famous single Banquet. I'm probably the only one who can't sing along really well, haha.
When people were getting a little tired, songs which is not so popular can just let us stop pushing and shoving then relax a bit. Then it's my personal favorite So Here We Are and This Modern Love, between them was the new single Mercury. Honestly, I dunno it's because the new song was pinch in between two of my Bloc Party favorites, or just because I'm still not that familiar with it, it seems mediocre to me. I mean there are not too much surprise in it, when you compares to Flux, one of my best single of 2007.(The music video is also EPIC!) Anyway, to see This Modern Love Live is really a dream come true. I've been watching it on Youtube and Austin City Limits' DVD for hundreds of times. It's better than in any recording. If it were not for I'm sweaty and stinky, it's a must-cry song for me lol.
The Encore, they perform 4 songs, which everyone was so familiar with it of course. Among the four songs, two of them totally showed us the crazy drumming from Matt. From the first verse of Positive Tension, you can easily found that every notes were so grooving with Kele's vocal, then layer by layer comes the chours, “Run run run run run run~”, amazing. Not to say the live got even better. Flux is so great with sharp tone of post-punk guitar and accelerated synth beats. I told Ashleigh that I love Kele's British accent in the final chours, “We need to Talk~” lol.
Finally is the Matt's drumming masterpieces Like Eating Glass and simply last song Helicopter. Frankly not only Ashleigh was disappointed with it when Kele's guitar splash (For she's hoping to hear Skeleton all night), I was also not satisfied with Helicopter as the ending song. Because there seems to be some problem without Gordon's bass or something. The chours was a bit empty though, which means it suddenly lost tension(especially it comes with such a killer guitar riff intro!). However, Like Eating Glass was too good and make everything worth it. I can say it's the best song of the night. Everyone was dragged into the music. So much passion and love stretching from the music. Absolutely moved me sooooo much.
Me and Ashleigh both bought a T-shirt after the gig. Too bad the new single was still unavailable, which Ashleigh want it badly. But she got Matt's setlist, which was found by me before the show lol. It's a pity that they skip some songs whcih I really want to hear like Pioneer. But anyway what a wonderful night! It's so great that I almost can't write something for it. Beyond the words, live magic is the best remedy for boring, suffer life =) I'm so lucky to have support from Ashleigh, especially we share same taste of music. She's so sweet and such a nice person. After all is the great Bloc Party, this is a couldn't be better start for a new life. Thank you guys.
It's really an unexpected show. I feel so lucky that I was there.
After the summer schedule was all set and done. I did a little research for the local venue of Riverside. However, it sucked the big suck. The truth is that LA do have a large market of gig-goer, but when it comes to business, they were all limited in the central LA county or O.C. Well, it's not big deal after all, since I'm here for my graduate study. Getting a degree and learning computer science is the first priority. So I can totally accept it. It's not like in the Bay Area which is so close to San Jose and has fast and convenient transportation to downtown SF and Berkeley. Still, I found a venue call The Glass House in Pomona, which is not that far from UCR. There're great artists have been there, such as Explosion in the Sky, Rilo Kiley, Ladytron, Blonde Redhead and Dashboard Confessional. Take a glance at the show schedule, not bad. Finch, Tokyo Police Club, CSS, Vampire Weekend and....BLOC PARTY!!!
Jeez! I can't believe that there's a chance to see such a festival-headline like Bloc Party in a small venue. From the pics on its official website, it's probably smaller than The Fillmore in SF. However, the problem is how can I get home after the show? And How can I get a single ticket when the show's already sold out? (Especially when the scalpers on eBay rip-off badly.)
I knew Craiglist will be my last chance. Unfortunately there's little tickets there, seems that all the ticket holders are real fans. That's cool for notorious SoCal scene, haha. Anyway I posted an add and didn't expect any response. But things always happen when you don't expect much. A girl called Ashleigh, who is a die-hard fan of Bloc Party, accidentally got a spare ticket and willing to give me a ride as long as I can pay the gas. I almost think that I was punk'd or something when I receive the call, seriously. Anyway, big band in small venue, I know it's like dream come true!!
I took Metrolink train to Pomona in the afternoon. BTW, the repeated scenery outside the window somehow reminds me the music video of Star Guitar by The Chemical Brothers.
When I got there, Ashleigh was already there. And there's Alex, we talked something pointless which I can barely remember before the show, haha. They are really nice people. then of course, we did heard something during the rehearsal. There's new single Mercury and other old stuff. Ashleigh'd love to see them do Skeleton, but I've check the setlist of Fuji Rock and don't think they'll do it. Doesn't matter, because we're pretty early and looks like we can made it the front row dead center!
Alex w/ the hard ticket.
the line, all the way to the end.
Doors 7:00pm, but the show 9:00pm!! All fans were kept waiting and freaking starved to dead. Hopefully, Does It Offend You, Yeah? took the stage first and they're really cool. I heard them from Nine Inch Nails' tour sampler. Just like Crystal Castle and Deerhunter, they join the tour and support NIN as well. Really have to say that both Trent Renzor and Bloc Party choose the right band. The twisted synth sound with grooving beats made their music like Daft Punk meet Hot Chip, and maybe perform a bit like LCD Soundsystem.
Anyway their stuff was excited and everybody was dancing. I love the black guitarist's outfit, totally old school/disco/'80 feeling. The Last song was the hit, "We Are Rockstars." The crowd simply went crazy. So many sweaty chicks around me pushing and shoving. I felt so like a perv...but still enjoy the music, not chicks, of course lol.
