Name: Bloc Party
Where and when: Main stage, 8.15pm, Saturday, Reading,
Dress computer code: Non-branded casual wear, denim cut-offs and tweed shirts.
Who's observation: A bold coalesce, but chiefly the youth.
In a nutshell: Thanks to their 9/10 performance at Reading 2007 Bloc Party have been promoted up a one-armed bandit, from last year's later afternoon to this year's early evening. The benefit being that performing after sunset gives them the opportunity to use a very impressive, and probably quite expensive light render, which comes alive during a reworking of Prince's I Would Die for You bleeding into their single Flux. Prior to that, latest single Mercury (with support vocals from new bassist Daniel Lindegren) kicks off the band's first performance since the rush liberation of their third album Intimacy. The new caterpillar track One Month Off too features, just it's the oldies that guarantee the biggest roar - Banquet, The Prayer and Helicopter. The band have never hidden their love for Reading, where singer Kele Okereke and guitarist Russell Lissack first met many years agone, and play with the glow of a band who are performing at their spiritual home.
High point: Helicopter, the penultimate track before She's Hearing Voices, elicits the best response.
Low point: Inconsistent sound levels that crataegus laevigata or english hawthorn not be the defect of high winds, which bring Okereke's vocals to the prow at the expense of the intimately inaudible drums.
How unvoiced did they rock? For a band whose latest record album is called Intimacy, their sound and performance is pretty exacting stuff.
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