Bloc Party’s Kele plays the Electric Ballroom

The absence of his band, Bloc Party, hasn’t seemed to deter Kele Okereke one bit. His performance last Friday at the Electric Ballroom has convinced me that his split from the English rock band has been both creatively and emotionally stimulating for the singer and songwriter, but his roots have not been forgotten.

I saw Bloc Party in 2006 right after Silent Alarm was released and the band was at the height of their success. I remember Kele being shy and awkward on stage, hardly engaging with the audience at all as he ripped through his set list in a hurry to get offstage. I half expected last Friday night to be a repeat of his reserved behavior, but was pleasantly surprised. He came on stage a new man and delved straight into crowd favorites such as, ‘On the Lam,’ ‘Tenderoni,’ and ‘Everything You Wanted.’ Appropriately, many of his new songs deal with themes of rebirth and reinvention. Proclaiming, ‘This is a song about overcoming’ before playing the opening bells of ‘Rise,’ Kele acknowledged that he is starting clean.

His new solo act is definitely a success but the most well received songs were definitely Bloc Party songs. Kele’s mention of his old band garnered crazy screaming and body slamming by obsessed stalker fans clutching at every inch of him when he ventured too close to the crowd. He launched into a remixed dub step mash up of old hits like, ‘Blue Light’ and ‘Modern Love’ that made the die-hard fans in the front row scream like little girls. The most well received song of the night was another Bloc Party favorite, ‘Flux’ that had the entire room jumping up and down singing every word.

Kele acknowledged the nostalgia by joking, ‘I used to be in a band once…The Black Eyed Peas…I Wish.’ While either singing Bloc Party or his new creations from his CD, ‘The Boxer,’ Kele was obviously right at home (figuratively and literally). His sense of comfort and ease from being back in his home country after a short US tour was eminent as he cracked jokes and danced around on stage. All eyes were on him, but it wasn’t too difficult as the rest of his band looked like star struck teenage MGMT wannabes.

The Kele show on a whole was definitely a venture from the blaring bass lines and soaring guitar solos from Bloc Party. The Electric Ballroom was more of a rave with a flashing blue Kele sign and strobe lights blazing to the rhythm of upbeat synth and big beats. Rave or rock show, Kele continues to produce hits. From shy indie boy to sexy, confident, and independent, his reinvention has not affected his talent as an artist. Kele is a name that will certainly be sticking around for some time to come.

-Taylor Austin