Beabadoobee, Sports Team and Bloc Party: Indie’s old, new and now
Venue: The Great Hall, Cardiff
Words: Craig Strachan
Bloc Party brought Cardiff back to a more innocent time — 2005 to be exact — with their incredible headline set as part of the BBC Radio 6 Music Festival.
There was something for every generation of 21st century indie rock fans on the Saturday night.
Bloc Party were an immaculate force of the early noughties British scene but support acts Sports Team and Beabadoobee are driving members of today’s indie voice.
Beabadoobee opened the show with her delicate balance of lilting melody and driving grunge sounds. Her second album is coming out later this year and tracks set to feature on it such as Talk contrasted nicely with some of more familiar songs like 2017’s Coffee, adding a heavier touch to some of her more gentle moments. This was her first live show since the pandemic and apologised to the audience if she sounded, “rusty,” which she definitely didn’t.
All the 6 Music Festival reviews:
Little Simz: It’s her moment
Ibeyi, Porij and Obongjayar: Pure rhythm
‘The joy of being there’: It’s been emotional
Panic Shack : The girl gang you’ve been waiting for
Sports Team, introduced by BBC 6Music’s own Steve Lamaq, are a group full of confidence set to release their second album soon while still high on the buzz of their Mercury Prize nominated debut.
Frontman Alex Rice was a force of nature, shouting and flailing his arms throughout the set. At times it felt a bit forced but after climbing the speakers to the left of the stage and diving into the mosh pit, the crowd certainly had no doubts about his commitment to the cause. Their half-hour set was never short on energy.
And finally came Bloc Party. Kele Okereke’s stage presence was far more humble than Alex Rice’s. He greeted the Welsh crowd with a polite, “Shw mae,” and left the stage with a wave and a “Doilch Cardiff, Nos da.” Their set however, was unrelenting.
Only their third show back after a three-year hiatus, the four-piece band rolled off new songs and cult-classics with ease.
The energy of Louise Bartle’s drumming never relented which left the crowd jumping no matter if it was their most recent single Traps or 2005 classic Banquet.
The biggest cheer of the night was saved for This Modern Love, introduced as a song, “For those who’ve missed us these last three years.”
It feels like we’ve missed everything these last three years, not just Bloc Party.
