Bloc Party – The Institute, Digbeth, Birmingham

Off to Birmingham to see Bloc Party in a small venue – a warm up gig for a massive one in London this summer. I had a busy day today – this morning I was in Nine Elms in London, getting a visa at the US Embassy – thanks to Trump, I’m not eligible for a visa waiver due to my previous visit to North Korea.

Anyway, my 5th Bloc Party gig, and the first time I’d seen them since they headlined Latitude in 2013.

I’ve always blown hot and cold with them. They’ve had some 10/10 albums (Silent Alarm, Four) and some 2/10 albums too. The last one, Alpha Games, wasn’t too bad. And they’re great live.

But I forgot that that this venue is rubbish and you need to get there early to get a good view. We turned up 15 minutes before the band were due on stage, and we couldn’t get anywhere near a place where we could get a good view.

So … I went and complained. And they put us in two seats which were reserved for VIPs, who hadn’t bothered to turn up. So that was sorted out nicely!

Good setlist though, and a lonnnnnng encore!