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Oh my God… I fucking hate the electric factory. It’s full of douchebags that take out their childhood troubles on the audience. (With the exception of an extremely nice ticket counter and a couple of the guys in the front of the stage). The entire crew consisted of people that would be prime suspects in an order of Law and Order: SVU. Anyway, after a bit of a tussle and a save by the wonderful staff at PressHere (thanks, Carla!), my photographer Kristina and I made it into a gigantic packed crowd.
“How the fuck are we supposed to get through?!” I looked at her in confusion.
“Push…”
Here I go: into the crowd, being that asshole that feels the need to push through you even though he’s way too fucking big. We make it to the front, leaving a trail of fire and angry concertgoers behind us. First up is a band from Brooklyn called Longwave. Nothing special here. There were a good two songs that I would have picked up in the record store or online and been like: “Yeah. This is good.” The only thing good about their performance was the crowd reaction. This was by far the most odd ratio of people ever in a crowd. Id say it was a 50:20 over 25 to under 18, a good 50:50 for drunken/sober, and a 70/30 douchebag/normal ratio. The former demographic in the last ratio screamed terribly loud at the band which prompted the lead singer to speak of his intimidation by them. The lights were nice, but stage presence was a good 2 on the rock-o-meter.
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The music stops. Now, we’re in that awkward limbo between opening and headlining bands. People are screaming and cheering every time a roadie tunes a guitar. They start to chant “Bloc Par-TY… Bloc Par-TY”, but it does this time! Oh… no. It’s another roadie. The crowd gives the obligatory boo, then the lights dim and Bloc Party comes out on stage. Mr. Okereke comes on cheery as all hell. It’s refreshing from the virtual comatose of fear longwave diplayed earlier. Sadly, they played quite a bit of shit form their old album and a few less than exciting pieces of their new album, but the set was long and varied enough to artfully showcase all three albums. I wish there were more of Silent Alarm (as did the crowd, as they went crazy as soon as Price of Gas played.) The only other problem I had was the inconsistencey of Kele’s voice. Whenever he tried crooning he would bend back his top lip, bend his head back, and curl his fingers together to squeeze it out as perfect in pitch as he did on the album. Sadly, the sound just didn’t translate, and some of the songs (specifically, Mercury) were mutilated to the point of bare recognition. It’s hard to say a band can mutilate their own songs; it’s like saying a parent can kill its own child, but it does happen. So, I’d like to call some of the songs infanticide. Most of the sacrifice in sound came from a compromise in Kele Okereke’s stage antics (which were pretty fun; especially the little dance Matt Tong [the drummer] did near the end of the set]. The instruments were mostly well spot on. There were even times where I felt as though I was listening to a Guitar Hero track and watching the band play; as demonstrated by a crowd surfing air guitar player in the crowd.
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Somebody Smoking Weed Behind Me: Count 4
Should I see it: I’ve heard their performance depends on the venue; however, in the Electric Factory, I wouldn’t recommend sacrificing too much if you’re not familiar with them. But seeing as most in the crowd were fans, spend to your limit (mine is $20). Honestly, though, I spend $20 just for the amazing light show they put on….
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