The Tempe Town Lake bridge was lined with people Thursday night. They were on their way to the Marquee Theatre to see the pre-Coachella performance of Bloc Party.
The band, out of Essex, England, which was on its way to the Southern California music festival, and made a pit stop in Tempe for its first Arizona performance.
"I saw my first cactus today," said lead singer Kele Okereke while on stage.
The band recently came off a rigorous European tour, and chose Arizona as only one of seven North American stops, along with Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., Las Vegas and Chicago.
Having only started in 1999 as the band Union, the members of Bloc Party quickly rose to fame through a bit of luck and a lot of industry know-how. After changing their name to Bloc Party in 2003, they celebrated by releasing a track onto a compilation and their song, "She's Hearing Voices," ended up in the hands of a Radio One DJ who insisted the band come into the studio after hearing that one song.
Bloc Party gained America's attention with its February 2005 release, Silent Alarm. The album drew critical acclaim as well as inspired a remix album featuring Mogwai and Death From Above 1979.
The irony is that while Bloc Party went platinum in the U.K. and started a huge buzz in America, the band has never broken into the American mainstream.
That didn't stop the band from becoming an underground indie phenomenon, or stop Arizona fans from packing in to see Russell Lissack, Gordon Moakes, Matt Tong and Okereke grace the stage at the Marquee.
Thursday's show also featured Coachella-mates Celebration and TV on the Radio.
The crowd screamed as the house lights went down, the red stage lights went up and the band filed on stage. The band wasted no time in starting the set, inciting jumping, dancing and general excitement in the audience.
Bloc Party played several popular tracks off of Silent Alarm, including "Blue Light," "This Modern Love," "Like Eating Glass" and the most recent single -- the spinning guitar-heavy song "Helicopter".
The band had been rumored to have written dozens of new songs to put on its sophomore release, and soon after recorded two new songs, "Hero" and "Two More Years," both of which they played at Thursday's concert without a formal introduction.
For a band whose influences include The Pixies and The Cure, one might expect a bit more spectacle on stage, especially with the buzz surrounding the band. However, Bloc Party stripped down the theatrics at the beginning to bring more punch than spectacle. Okereke was the most boisterous of the quartet, eventually jumping off the drum platform and often flailing his guitar around between lyrics.
For those who liked the new songs, you can expect to hear them and an entire new album in September.
However, if you missed them this time around, you might have to wait a little while to see the quartet. The band proclaimed after its encore that the members will "see you all next year."
Perhaps that means another Coachella stop as well? We will just have to wait and see from this band who has managed to keep everyone -- including Thursday's enthusiastic crowd -- watching.
Reach the reporter at ashley.e.harris@asu.edu.
