I was really excited to catch Does It Offend You, Yeah? again, as well as see what Bloc Party frontman Kele Okereke would have to offer out on his own. A couple years ago, Matt sent me a link to DIOYY’s Myspace page, thinking I might dig them, since I usually get into dance-rock. Matt comes across a lot of music and, if on the computer, will hit me with a link here and there. Most of the time, they’re pretty good, but often don’t really resonate with me. However, as soon as the music started playing, I knew I was going to need to see them live.
I saw DIOYY for the first time at Coachella 2008 and it was a non-stop, sweaty, dance party. Vanessa and I lucked out and got to watch most of their set from the photo pit, so we had plenty of room to move around and freak out to their high energy electro-rock. I loved seeing them and couldn’t wait to catch them again.
Flash forward to last week and they find themselves at the Music Box opening for Kele. This was the end of the tour and apparently their lead singer had been sick for most of it. It felt like something was missing, but they still rocked it and I really enjoyed the new tunes they tried out. I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for that new album and also for when they come through town touring it.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from Kele. I’ve seen Bloc Party a few times and always enjoyed them, but there was no telling what he was going to do for his solo show. I feared that he would just be singing over a DAT, as his press images kind of hinted at, but he showed up with a full band and ready to rock. Kele fully embraced the even more focal role, jettisoning his trusty guitar for most of his set in favor of dancing out the electronic laden tunes from his debut album, The Boxer.
The crowd adored Kele on his own, but it was obvious that everyone had been devout Bloc Party fans when he did a Bloc Party mash-up and the place exploded with energy. That was a highlight for me, as was his tour recap which included rednecks, getting held up at gunpoint and “getting the sh-ts.”
Boy, touring sounds like a blast, huh?
