Hunting For Witches

We get a lie in and for once I have a hangover which is odd as I stuck to English beer all night rather than mix it with Belgian or wine. Still manage quite a bit of sex with my pyjama-ed one.

More astonishing news from Australia. England have actually won the tri nations series after they beat World Champions Australia in the second leg of final. Taking it 2-0. Who would have thought that two weeks ago.

Get up and take the kids to Decathlon to kit them out in ski boots. We are hoping that their feet have now stopped growing, so it should be a long-term investment and will save us hiring in Scotland next week. If we are lucky enough to get snow that is. The prices are that good, that we end up buying skis too. So all systems go. We just need snow.

Take Doggo on park for a ball session. Daughter goes out for a run.

L cooks a really good chilli and then we go out gigging. Bloc Party are at Rock City. It's a rare treat to get to see a band in the week after their new album is released, whilst their new material still feels fresh, rather than waiting months for them to perform.

They open the set as they do the new album with 'Song For Clay'. A lot of thought seems to have been given to the sequence of the songs on A Weekend In The City and it works well on the CD. As if the album is a story told chronologically. It works equally well live as tonight the tracks are played in the same order, albeit with songs from Silent Alarm, interspersed but even those tracks seemed to be picked specifically to blend in.

Like the album, the first half of the show is spiky. New songs such as ‘Hunting For Witches’ and the single ‘The Prayer’ are very much full of energy. Pulling no punches, telling a depressing tale of Britain today.

The end of Banquet is 'ruined' when Kele breaks a guitar string. No one seemed to mind, if anything it adds to the roughness of the sound.

A lively and surprisingly young crowd lap it all up even when Kele digs at youth culture. The song 'Uniform' questions their willingness to conform to a stereotype whilst thinking its rebellion. Tonight the masses hold up their camera phones and conform.

Again following the path of the album the gloom of the first half gives way to a calmer, steadier second half where (on the album) Kele goes on about his childhood and his loves. Not all of the new record is played and I particularly would have liked to have heard the superb 'I still remember'. Was it omitted because it may be a gay love song?

It’s an energetic if slightly dishevelled performance but as a gig going experience it's pretty damn near perfect. I haven't seen Bloc Party live before so I have no comparison but tonight they are quite stunning.

As for the record, the band have produced a wonderful, thought provoking, although slightly paranoid, album. Just as The Killers grew up with Sam's Town, so too now have Bloc Party.

AF tonight but 33 units for the week