Set against the glorious backdrop of a sun-drenched Castlefield Bowl, Bloc Party returned to Manchester in celebration of one of the most important records of the golden indie era.
While the realisation that Silent Alarm has turned the grand old age of 20 this year is perhaps a little dread-filling at first, any opportunity to hear that album played live in its entirety, alongside some of the band’s other biggest hits, is one that I’ll probably never be strong enough to turn down.
Kicking things off with the beautifully atmospheric, twanging guitar riff of So Here We Are, the awe of engrossed admiration that sweeps through the crowd quickly shifts to a party atmosphere, first driven by the pounding drum fills of She’s Hearing Voices, and erupting at the unmistakable punky opening notes of Hunting for Witches.
Sounding as good as they have in years, the evening proceeds to traverse brilliantly between the gorgeously melodic in Blue Light and Different Drugs and the electricity of anthems like Banquet and The Prayer.
Frontman Kele is keen to pay tribute to the audience on more than one occasion, speaking of his excitement about returning to the venue after the group’s last show there, and later proclaiming that the (now much more sweaty) audience had, indeed, not let him down this time round either.
The encore unsurprisingly transforms the bowl into one massive, serotonin-filled indie disco, delivering a final four tracks — I Still Remember, Helicopter, Flux and This Modern Love — that few groups, be it from the original Bloc Party era, or even now, could outshine.
- Words:
- Bradley Lengden
- Published on:
- Sun 13 Jul 2025
