“Come on, Tiny D!” Kele Okereke excitedly yelps about a minute into Bloc Party‘s Tiny Desk concert. The English rock group’s members were stoked to pay us a visit during their recent trip across the pond — and we were lucky to have them. They approached the Tiny Desk challenge with ease and delivered a carefully curated set with smiles and all.
This year marks two decades since the release of Bloc Party’s enduring debut album. To celebrate, this Tiny Desk set begins with the super catchy and energetic pop anthem “Banquet” from Silent Alarm. The band continues with a couple songs from 2008’s Intimacy: the shimmery, glockenspiel-forward “Signs,” then “Mercury,” where we give a sneak peek of Okereke’s vocal effects rig under the Desk. Bloc Party closes with “Blue,” a sweet song on the slower side of the band’s catalog. It ends quietly, yet powerfully, as Okereke sings, “I fall asleep on your sleeve / with those three words in my dreams.”
SET LIST
- “Banquet”
- “Signs”
- “Mercury”
- “Blue”
MUSICIANS
- Kele Okereke: vocals, guitar
- Russell Lissack: guitar
- Harry Deacon: bass, keys, glockenspiel, background vocals
- Louise Bartle: drums, background vocals
TINY DESK TEAM
- Producer: Maia Stern
- Director/Editor: Kara Frame
- Audio Technical Director: Josh Newell
- Host/Series Producer: Bobby Carter
- Videographers: Kara Frame, Maia Stern, Joshua Bryant
- Audio Engineer: Josephine Nyounai
- Production Assistant: Dora Levite
- Photographer: Alanté Serene
- Tiny Desk Team: Lars Gotrich, Ashley Pointer
- Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
- Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
- VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins