Bloc Party to perform debut LP in full on European tour

Bloc Party are set to perform their seminal LP ‘Silent Alarm’ in full on tour this October. Kele Okereke and co will play each track on the 2005 record which included breakthrough hit ‘Banquet’ - at six shows across Europe, concluding at London’s Alexandra Palace on October 24. Alongside a poster for the tour dates, the band wrote on Twitter: “This October, we will perform Silent Alarm in full at six European shows. Tickets on sale this Friday. (sic)” The indie rokers haven’t released an album since 2016’s ‘Hymns’, but frontman Kele teamed up with Years & Years frontman Olly Alexander last year on “romantic duet”, ‘Grounds For Resentment’. Both frontmen are openly gay and decided to release the track in a bid to break the taboo surrounding musicians in the pop industry who feel they have to use “codes” to talk about their sexuality in songs rather than being straight-talking about same sex relationships. ‘This Modern Love’ hitmaker Kele, 36, said the single - which is featured on his solo LP ‘Fatherland’ - is just the starting point for breaking the barrier down, as he admits there is “a long way to go” with regards to homosexual pop stars feeling confident enough to “describe love and desire authentically”. He said: “I remember reading something that [Olly] wrote about the use of pronouns in pop music for gay artists that I thought that was very perceptive and intelligent that the use of pronouns was the last frontier for gay artists. “There are lots of gay acts that avoid using the term he when singing about same sex desire. “It will just be a neutral term, whereas Olly understands from what I read that there is a long way to go for gay musicians in being able to describe love and desire authentically. “So I was very happy to sing a romantic duet with him on my album, because I couldn’t think of a precedent of any out gay musicians singing a love song to one another without having to hide behind codes.” Kele was referring to an interview Olly did previously where he said he’d like to see more mainstream gay stars be more open about their sexuality, and praised pop megastar Miley Cyrus for promoting a “non-binary gender”