Bloc Party @ United Palace Theater
Thanks to my woman, I caught Bloc Party waaaay uptown on 175th street at a new venue called the United Palace Theater last night… and this morning woke up appropriately singing I Still Remember to myself.
The funny thing is, I was expecting the show to be terrible. The location was super far away, I’d never heard of the place, it was billed as a seated affair (The seats which my woman had turned out to be excellent, but who wants to sit?), I hadn’t loved Bloc Party when I saw them last year in McCarren pool (despite loving their first album), and, to be honest, I haven’t been too into Weekend in the City.
As it turned out, all those worries were wasted. The trek up there was quick on the A train (although the train home took forever), the venue (a semi-converted church) was absolutely gorgeous with gold trimming to spare, no one bothered sitting, and Bloc Party made all the wimpier songs off their new album rock to the point where pieces of the ceiling were falling down on them! It was a ton of fun and I left there dripping sweat from jumping around almost their entire set.
Björk plays the United Palace Theater next month and although I haven’t heard anything from her new album yet, just imagining her live in that bizarre space makes me feel like the show would be fantastic. I need to remember to try and find tickets for under $500. (Damn scalpers!)
Additionally, I need to remember to give a listen to Albert Hammond, Jr’s album Yours to Keep. I really enjoyed his opening set.
(Image: Bloc Party @ United Palace Theater, originally uploaded by tammylo.)
