Blonde Redhead + Bloc Party @ Union Event Center 06.12.25

Crowd members against the front rail at the Blonde Redhead and Bloc Party concert at Union Event Center, June 12, 2025.

Crowd members are swathed in a deep blue as they gather along the front rail for Blonde Readhead's set at the Union Event Center on June 12. Photo: Jovvany Villalobos.

Image: Jovvany Villalobos

Concert

Twenty years ago, Bloc Party embarked on their first tour of the United States. At home in the U.K., they had been hailed by British journalists as the “best new band in Britain.” It was a heavy mantle that guaranteed nothing more than increased scrutiny from American journalists and sceptics. There was a target, warranted or not, on Bloc Party’s chest and they would have to prove themselves.

I walked into their June 2005 show at In the Venue’s small room as a hopeful supporter. I had enjoyed their early singles on the Dim Mak label and their debut album Silent Alarm had been in rotation since its February release. For the few hundred who filled the room, it was an unforgettable night. I couldn’t have predicted that it would be almost exactly 20 years before Bloc Party would play Salt Lake City again.

Thursday night, Bloc Party brought their 20 Years of Bloc Party: Silent Alarm & Hits Tour to the Union Event Center, where the stage alone could have fit the band and audience from the first show two times over with room to spare.

The night had an early start with New York’s Family Dinner taking the stage at 6:30 for a sparse crowd (who, ironically, was about the size of the audience for Bloc Party’s 2005 show). Featuring Natalie on vocals, the band was noisy, boisterous fun — a callback to late 1980s punk rock that would eventually be lumped in with what became grunge. Not quite L7, but the same sort of scene.

Family Dinner was followed by Blonde Redhead, a New York trio consisting of Kazu Makino and twin brothers Amedeo and Simone Pace. I’m more familiar with their 4AD releases from the early 2000s, and some of the more noise-influenced albums that were released by Touch and Go Records in the 1990s. There was a nice energy to the performance coming primarily from Makino and Simone. It was an engaging, noisy and well-received set. I was happy to finally see them for the first time.

Bloc Party was ahead of their time. Unlike many of their contemporaries, they weren’t trying to emulate the sounds of the early 1980s. They adopted the spirit of their post-punk forefathers as they set out to build a bridge between guitar-driven songs and the electronic euphoria of house music.

The electronic elements may not be as obvious, but the mentality shaped Bloc Party’s sound in ways that may not always be immediately identifiable. Bauhaus did something similar in the sense that they married glam with funk, reggae and dub elements. A better comparison for Bloc Party might be The Clash, who was a little more obvious in their use of reggae rhythms. The electronic influence is under the hood, a major component of the Bloc Party engine. You just have to know where to look.

It is the combination of genres that allows Silent Alarm to resonate with younger audiences. It feels as exciting now as it did two decades ago. So, when the set kicked off with “So Here We Are” before turning to “She’s Hearing Voices,” the song that started it all for the band, it didn’t feel as nostalgic as you might expect. I was certainly taken back to a different time, but most of the audience members, many of whom were either in diapers or unborn when the songs were released, were simply living in the moment.

The set was dominated by Silent Alarm material including singles “Banquet” and “Helicopter” and album tracks “Blue Light,” “Like Eating Glass,” “Luno,” “The Price of Gasoline” and “This Modern Love.”

I prefer their second album, A Weekend in the City, and was particularly thrilled to hear “Hunting for Witches,” along with “I Still Remember,” “Song for Clay (Disappear Here)” and “The Prayer.” I was a little gutted that the non-album track “Two More Years” didn’t make the set. I was even more wounded to see that it wasn’t on the setlist as part of the encore. They played “Little Thoughts” instead.

Throughout the show, vocalist/guitarist Kele Okereke engaged with the crowd while guitarist Russell Lissack, bassist Harry Deacon and drummer Louise Bartle were more content to play supporting roles. Lissack was particularly fun to watch. He was so focused on creating his noisescapes that he might not have realized there was an audience at all.

The mix was fantastic. You could even understand Okereke when he paused to speak between songs. I ended up closer to the stage than intended (I was going to test out the balcony area) and felt rewarded for doing so. The crowd was reasonably behaved. Everyone came prepared to sing and dance. The mosh pit that opened up for some of the more frenetic songs didn’t prove to be too unruly. It was simply a great night out and hopefully the band was able to sense the crowd’s appreciation.