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Archive for the ‘The Temper Trap’ Category

Bloc Party (PNC Bank Arts Center, Holmdel, NJ, July 22, 2026) [MUSE]

Posted in Bloc Party, Holmdel, NJ, Muse, PNC Bank Center, The Temper Trap on July 23, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 22, 2026] Bloc Party

For ages now I’ve felt like I should get into Bloc Party.  I mean, right from the start, I associated them with Art Brut and there’s no good reason why I didn’t jump on the Bloc Party party.  While not as “talkie” as Art Brut there is a similar vibe, with singer Kele Okereke kind of yell-speaking the lyrics.

Last year, Bloc Party played a show at the Met Philly.  I was going to go because Metric was opening.  Then they dropped out and I wound up not getting tickets–as I said, I didn’t know them all that well.  But I was really excited that they were opening for Muse on this tour, because it would finally give me a chance to check them out.

And they were fantastic.  The sound wasn’t perfect for them (too much bass drum, good heavens).  But what really impressed me about them was how great they sounded musically.  I’d always thought that the focus was on the lyrics/vocals.  And, yes, the lyrics are compelling, like on Coming on Strong

I was happy as a pig in
Happy as a pig in
Happy as a pig in spite of myself

But once I got past the words, I was blown away by guitarist Russell Lissack–he generated some weird and cool sounds effortlessly.  And there’s so much going on with the guitar work in Bloc Party songs.  I only wish I’d watched him from the start.  But, understandably, all eyes are on Kele–especially since he is a big muscular dude (I didn’t really know what he looked like back in the day, but he is big now!

I found myself liking their newer songs even more than their older ones.  The guitar progression of Rough Justice is great–cinematic and slightly scary at the same time.  Of course, the riff from 2012’s So He Begins to Lie is also great–heavy and lurching but really catchy as well.  And it was during this song that I really blown away by drummer Louise Bartle.  She played fast and heavy and played some really interesting drums patterns.  I realize that she didn’t play on the early albums (she joined ten years ago), but she was a force of nature live. (more…)

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The Temper Trap (PNC Bank Arts Center, Holmdel, NJ, July 22, 2026) [MUSE]

Posted in Bloc Party, Holmdel, NJ, Muse, PNC Bank Center, The Temper Trap on July 22, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 22, 2026] The Temper Trap

I was really excited for this show. Muse is always a good show and I brought my son with me–he’s become a big fan.  I had purchased lawn seats and was hoping to upgrade them to pavilion seats when we arrived.  So I wanted to get there earlier enough to upgrade without having to hang out with nothing to do.  I knew that heading down to Holmdel around 6PM can really suck. but I was totally unprepared for how bad the traffic would be.  Holy cow, we were on 287 for half an hour easily (ten miles).  We pulled up to the venue just before 7. We still managed to upgrade our tickets and walked into the pvailion just as The Temper Trap came on.

I hadn’t heard of The Temper Trap, but when I looked them up I found out that they had a new album that being quite well received.

I also found out that they were from Melboure and I’ve been having a great deal of luck with Australian bands lately.  Well, I’ve found that they actually moved to London a while ago (and singer Dougy Mandagi doesn’t have much of Australian accent).

I enjoyed their set but I wasn’t really blown away by anything.  Indeed, when they were done I couldn’t even really remember what the sounded like (except that the bass was way too loud, which I know is not the band’s fault).

Listening to the songs now, Lucky Dimes is pretty cool with the sound effects getting generated–but which I didn’t really notice during the show.

Into the Wild slowed things down and Mandagi ‘s falsetto really came to the fore. (more…)

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