Live Review: Bloc Party & World End's Press

On a night that is meant to be autumn, the steamy Hordern is brimming with grooving beats brought by both the headlining act and Melbourne support World's End Press, the latter making party-goers sweat profusely before Bloc Party even hit the stage. The bizarre stage-manner of frontman John Parkinson uniquely matches their rich and impressive disco-esque sound. His dancing limbs were everywhere, which left the crowd in fascination. It was a great warm-up to the night and their forthcoming record.

Kele Okereke was a bit more subdued than Parkinson to begin. Bloc Party's figurehead intensely gazed into the packed-out standing section and with a wry smile he had everyone in worship. Although adorned with a guitar for most of the set, it's on tunes like One More Chance that he really connects with fans, freely exploring the stage with the mic as his sole weapon. Similarly, Ares gave Okereke a break from the mic-stand and a chance to practice a bit of rapping, bouncing with the beat and generally loving himself sick – which is totally fair.

That's not to say that tunes with Okereke on guitar suffered. The 20-song set was jam-packed with huge performances, flying through the London band's four full lengths and extras, including unreleased song, Ratchet, taking Bloc Party's distinct soaring guitar riffs to a new level, a sound they “knew you would love”.

Song For Clay (Disappear Here), fresh with an intro from Okereke's solo release, Tenderoni, flooded into Banquet and the room was a sweltering mess; they were almost cruel to put everyone through those amazingly colossal releases back-to-back. The band of four did a sweet job recreating their repertoire, but the sound seemed to let them down throughout the gig. Gordon Moakes' bass lines were rarely audible over the pumping lead guitars or drums that are so dominant in Bloc Party's material to begin with.

The set was split into two “halves”, the quick cover of Rihanna and strange intermission-come-encore were quickly forgotten as the boys played too fast and furious to let up. Helicopter rounded it out in their second encore, the song everyone wanted and, as expected, the highlight of a night that was a workout in itself.