Bloc Party at the Pearl in Las Vegas

I don't think anyone would be surprised to find that I was back in Vegas for another "Vacation". It so happened that Bloc Party was playing the Pearl in Las Vegas. I already had tickets to the Police in Las Vegas for Friday and decided to extend my trip to catch Bloc Party earlier in the week on Wednesday.



 
The Maccabees hailing from Brighton rocked the Las Vegas crowd with a blast of British indie garage rock that had the urgency of early Bloc Party,  and Gang Of Four. I have attended quite a few Las Vegas shows in my time and was surprised how well they were received by crowd. Orlando Weeks (Vocals) was doing a good impersonation of Alan Donohue of the Rakes as he flailed his arms around stage and whilst spitting out his lyrics. Check out their debut album "Colour It In" on Geffen records.



 
The last time I caught up with The Noisettes they opened for TV on The Radio down at the Belly Up. They always put on a high energy show that will keep you entertained. Shingai Shoniwa (Vocals/Bass/Guitars) had a much larger stage to crawl, dance, and jump around. Dan White (Guitars) was busy riffing away while tap dancing on his assortment of pedals. I did notice he had his guitar signal split to perform some basslines at the same time. Some of the songs I recognized were "The Count of Monte Cristo" and "Scratch Your Name". The crowd seemed to have approved of the set but not nearly as buzzworthy as the Maccabees set. 






Bloc Party's latest album "A Weekend In The City" continues to grow on me. When I last caught them at the Wiltern, they skipped my two favorite songs off the album "Atonement" and "Sunday". I was hoping I would at least get one of them this time around. One of the defining characteristics that stands out about Bloc Party is the different guitar sounds they create during their live performance. Unfortunately, the stage monitors obscured a direct picture of their pedalboards but I did manage to scope out some of Russell Lissack's pedals which included a Korg Kaoss Pad 3, Deluxe Memory Man, Big Muff Distortion pedal, Boss Line Selector, Boss Super Shifter,and an intriguing Pigtronix Envelope Phaser.  His complex pedal rig had some problems during the end of show that made for some interesting alternate performances of the songs. The band sounded great though especially through the Pearl's soundsystem. The previous two shows at the Pearl I never managed to get to the rail but on this particular night I was fairly close. The front of the stage at the Pearl has about six or seven speakers angled up for those people on the rail. I have never seen a venue do this before and was highly impressed. The opening notes of "Song for Clay (Disappear Here)" that included the background haunting chants from Gordon Moakes(Bass) and Matt Tong(Drums).  Kele Okereke(Vocals/Guitars) was alternating between his Fender Telecaster and a shiny Gretsch Tennessee Rose. Russell Lissack brought out his E-Bow for "Uniform" which got the crowd moving. After a moment of fixing Russell's pedals, the band came back out to perform "Sunday". Gordon traded in his bass for a drum kit as he complemented Matt Tong's tribal thumps. "Helicopter" was the final punctuation of the night that brought out the crowd surfers and the mini mosh pits.


Bloc Party Setlist for The Pearl in Las Vegas (6/13/07)
 

TV On The Radio and The Noisettes at the Belly Up

I almost didn't make it to this show. I originally slept on buying tickets at the Belly Up but was adamant about not going to the Henry Fonda to see TV On the Radio. Thanks to Craig's list and a guy named John, I managed to trade my extra Bloc Party ticket for tickets to TV on The Radio at the Belly Up in Solana Beach. What a trade it was. The Noisettes by the way of the U.K. came up first with their hodgepodge style of noise funk punk rock. Shingai Shoniwa (Vocals, Bass, guitar) was a dynamo onstage easily commanding the audiences attention as she sung and screamed her heart out. I was particularly impressed with her Fender Jaguar Bass that she pummelled without a pick. Shingai also would switch to guitar and rock away without a pick as well. They will be back at the Troubadour in June for those whose who are intrigued. I have seen TV On the Radio back in 2004 for the shortlist awards and was impressed. TV on the Radio also opened some of the summer shows for Nine Inch Nails in 2006 but played for thirty minutes to a sparse crowd. This show was vastly different as it was a packed house inside a dimly lit club. Unfortunately, an announcement was made that the band requested that no photos be taken during the performance. This was okay because I was spellbound throughout their entire set. Tunde Adebimpe (Vocals) gave an other worldly performance as he lost himself in the music and belted out the opener of "Young Liars". He would sample phrases of his voice with a Line 6 Delay Modulation pedal or a Digitech Jamman and play it back while he was singing. David Sitek (Guitars) had 2 Line 6 Delay Modulation pedals that were eminating a storm of feedback guitar washes running thru 2 amps. "Wolf Like Me" was simply phenomenal and spine tingling at a loud concert volume. Kyp Malone (Guitars) also had a Line 6 Delay modulation pedal to augment the wall of noise. During "A Method", various members from the Noisettes came out to add percuasion as David was pounding on a snare drum. As they closed with the hypnotic "Staring at the Sun", I wondered why they aren't one of the bigger bands around.