Bloc Party smashed Reading Festival’s first-ever ‘icons’ slot this afternoon (Friday August 22), playing to an all-ages audience that lapped up their indie classics and frontman Kele Okereke’s feel-good banter.
Billed on Reading & Leeds’ official line-up as a “special set from festival icons”, this early afternoon show from the R+L veterans proved the four-piece’s cross-generational appeal, with the majority of the audience likely not even born when the London band first broke through with 2005’s ‘Silent Alarm’.
The new ‘icons’ slot looks set to be a regular feature of the festival, in the vein of Glastonbury’s famous ‘Legends’ performance.
Okereke, who was known back in the group’s mid-’00s heyday for a somewhat dour stage presence, seemed to be having the time of his life. “We’re Bloc Party, we’re from London, England,” the 43-year-old beamed. “We’re gonna have some fun, OK?”
He was as good as his word, barrelling from the staccato guitar of ‘She’s Hearing Voices’ straight into 2007’s experimental, more dance-focused ‘Mercury’. It wasn’t long into the set before his removed his top to reveal a simple white vest, while drummer Louise Bartle went for a more formal shirt and tie.
“Bye-bye, photographers,” Okereke smiled amiably, waving to the photographers exiting the pit after a few songs.
He worked a few lines of Sneaker Pimps’ ‘Spin Spin Sugar’ into the intro of ‘Song For Clay’ and acknowledged the band’s early billing when he said it was “the wrong time of day” but still asked: “Reading, do you wanna get high?”
Assisted by founding guitarist Russell Lissack and bassist Harry Deacon, who joined Bloc Party in 2023, the frontman kept the energy and audience engagement up throughout – despite, he explained, having been asked to keep the banter to a minimum. When the audience booed good-naturedly at this, he added, “It’s only so we can play you more songs,” eliciting a cheer.
Although the set leant heavily on ‘Silent Alarm’ and its 2007 follow-up ‘A Weekend In the City’, there was time for newer material such as the beefy ‘Traps’, which appears on 2022’s ‘Alpha Games’, the band’s most recent album.
Okereke shouted out “anyone who got their results, prompting another big cheer, and said: “I remember coming to Reading after I got my exam results and it was a wild time, so look out for each other.”
Towards the end of the set, he thanked the audience for showing “so much love”, underlining the feel-good nature of this set. “Did you like that, Reading – did you like that?” he’d grinned at one point, before taking a victory sip from his water. “I liked it too.”
Back in May, Okereke spoke to NME about their upcoming “disco heartbreak” album with Trevor Horn and being “at peace” with ‘Silent Alarm’, revealing: “I’m working on a musical at the moment, and we are working on the next Bloc Party record.”
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