“Hello. We’re called Bloc Party.”

A lot can happen in two years. Amongst other things: Katrina, Milosevic, World Cups, earthquakes, Top of the Pops, two Ashes, and Arctic Monkeys to name just a few things.

Things change pretty quickly, they sure do, but Bloc Party, new album and all, look much the same as they did when they played Cardiff in early 2005. Kele’s wearing a stripy and neatly-cut polo shirt, Russell’s still got that haircut, and Matt still can’t keep his shirt on. But it’s time to start a new fire.

This is the second time Bloc Party have played this venue since the NME Tour of 2005 (with The Killers, Futureheads and Kaiser Chiefs) which played a significant part in the haircut indie-fixation of these fair isles. And while others might have waned over time, Kele’s heroes are in the form of their lives.

From the pounding bass intro music into the gothic swagger of ‘The Prayer’ and ‘Song For Clay’ and through to the dirty, sweaty, floor-shaking fun of ‘Helicopter’ and ‘Banquet’, the Londoners seize the occasion by the scruff of its haircut and proceed to bounce it up and down so hard that you can probably hear the noise in Swansea.

It’s hot stuff. Hands break through the sweaty hair and waft moisture from the crowd surfers at the front to the mangy fake-ceiling overhang at the back which frames the atrium of the hall. Kele encourages everyone to put their palms together after almost every song – they do, of course. He doesn’t say a lot but he’s clearly enjoying this.

And well he might, as Bloc Party have come on immensely as a live act since the release of Silent Alarm. Russell’s spiderweb guitar envelopes the room with (positive) tension while Matt Tong (who surely must be the best young drummer in the country) provides a foot-stamping, stage-rattling prop to the vocals of Kele and Gordon. His drumming during ‘Waiting For The 7.18’ is 60-beats-to-the-bar fantastic. It’s no wonder he has to take his shirt off.

There’s an air of triumphalism and we soon find out why. “Right now our new record is the most popular in the country,” says Okereke. “So, if we want to defeat Mika we’ve got to go out en masse and buy it!” Proof, as if any more was needed, of a DiS-centric, anti-Lebanese cod-pop bias. They better keep an eye out for a vigilante Brian May as they travel down the M4 to Bristol tonight.

Oddly, seeing as though A Weekend In The City is riding so high, throughout a 90-minute set we only hear five songs from the album. But that, as any musician who’s played to a room full of drunken students will probably attest, isn’t a bad thing. They’re simply flying tonight.

And I didn’t even get my phone nicked.

Bloc Party played:

‘The Prayer’
‘Positive Tension’
‘Hunting For Witches’
‘Blue Light’
‘Banquet’
‘Waiting For The 7.18’
‘Song For Clay’
‘This Modern Love’
‘Like Eating Glass’
‘Two More Years’
‘Little Thoughts’
‘Helicopter’

Encore:
‘So Here We Are’
‘She’s Hearing Voices’
‘Sunday’
‘The Pioneers’

Photo by James Perou