The boys and girls in the front row at The Mod Club in Toronto last Friday couldn’t keep their hands off Kele Okereke, caressing and clinging to the Bloc Party frontman’s calves as he performed a 45-minute set of material mostly taken from his new solo album, The Boxer. It’s not hard to see why Kele inspires such amorous behavior among some of his fans: he’s clearly been spending time in the gym since releasing the solo record, and he knows his way around a heartbreaking ballad or two.
Though the set list leaned toward songs of the pop-dance variety, it was the belters — new and old — such as recent single “Everything You Wanted”, “Rise” and Bloc Party number “Blue Light” that really seemed to rile the crowd up. Photographer James was up front to capture all the skanking action. Check out a few photos and Kele’s remaining tour dates after the jump.
Kele 2010 tour dates:
Sept 7 – Boston, MA @ Royale
Sept 8 – New York, NY @ Webster Hall
Sept 11 – Chicago, IL @ Double Door
Sept 12 – Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry at First Ave
Sept 13 – Omaha, NE @ Slow Down
Sept 14 – Denver, CO @ Summit Music Hall
Sept 16 – Seattle, WA @ Chop Suey
Sept 18 – San Francisco CA @ Mezzanine
Sept 21 – Los Angeles, CA @ Music Box
Sept 25 – Gold Coast, Australia @ Parklife Festival, Parklands
Sept 26 – Perth, Australia @ Parklife Festival, Wellington Square
Oct 2 – Melbourne, Australia @ Parklife Festival, Sidney Myer Music Bowl
Oct 3 – Sydney, Australia @ Parklife Festival, Kippax Lake
Oct 4 – Adelaide, Australia @ Parklife Festival, Botanic Gardens
Nov 9 – Luxembourg @ Den Atelier
Nov 12 – Amsterdam @ Melkweg Small Hall
Nov 15 – Birmingham, UK @ Institute Library
Nov 16 – Glasgow UK @ Arches
Nov 18 – Manchester, UK @ Ritz
Nov 19 – London, UK @ Electric Ballroom
Nov 20 – Bristol, UK @ Motion
Nov 24 – Hamburg @ Mondial Halle
Nov 25 – Berlin @ Astra
Nov 26 – Leipzig @ Conny Island
Nov 27 – Munich @ On 3 Festival
Nov 29 – Heidelberg @ Kulturhaus Karlstorbahnhof/Saal
Nov 30 – Köln @ des Bürgerhaus Stollwerck
Fantastic show, but shitty that Toronto venues continues to double-book their nights. Mod Club had a second concert a few hours later, pretty much forcing Kele to end his set earlier than he wanted.