Maia Stern | July 15, 2025
“Come on, Tiny D!” Kele Okereke excitedly yelps about a minute into Bloc Party’s Tiny Desk concert. The English rock group’s members were stoked to pay us a visit during their recent trip across the pond — and we were lucky to have them. They approached the Tiny Desk challenge with ease and delivered a carefully curated set with smiles and all.
This year marks two decades since the release of Bloc Party’s enduring debut album. To celebrate, this Tiny Desk set begins with the super catchy and energetic pop anthem “Banquet” from Silent Alarm. The band continues with a couple songs from 2008’s Intimacy: the shimmery, glockenspiel-forward “Signs,” then “Mercury,” where we give a sneak peek of Okereke’s vocal effects rig under the Desk. Bloc Party closes with “Blue,” a sweet song on the slower side of the band’s catalog. It ends quietly, yet powerfully, as Okereke sings, “I fall asleep on your sleeve / with those three words in my dreams.”
SET LIST
“Banquet”
“Signs”
“Mercury”
“Blue”
MUSICIANS
Kele Okereke: vocals, guitar
Russell Lissack: guitar
Harry Deacon: bass, keys, glockenspiel, background vocals
Louise Bartle: drums, background vocals
TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Maia Stern
Director/Editor: Kara Frame
Audio Technical Director: Josh Newell
Host/Series Producer: Bobby Carter
Videographers: Kara Frame, Maia Stern, Joshua Bryant
Audio Engineer: Josephine Nyounai
Production Assistant: Dora Levite
Photographer: Alanté Serene
Tiny Desk Team: Lars Gotrich, Ashley Pointer
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins
#blocparty #tinydesk #nprmusic
NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Concerts is a popular video series featuring live, intimate music performances by diverse artists, from major stars to up-and-coming musicians, recorded in the small workspace of Bob Boilen’s NPR office in Washington, D.C.brought to you by SloppBoxx.Com.

















































interesting choice of blue instead of hunting for witches or the prayer. skeleton. anyways lovely set.
loved seeing kele non twink and herculean / roman god statue era
Any one 2026? Is a fuc..beautiful
2026 Forever Bloc party my song history
One of the best ❤
Mercury is the Masterpiece
They’re almost too good. (Also, “C’mon tiny D” was hillarious)
Bloc Party was the last band I saw before a traumatic event changed my life. I’m so happy to see them get a Tiny Desk Performance, because they sound as good live as they do on recording <3 so talented.
NO HELICOPTER!?!?!?! Great set still
Is he previewing the Anatomy of a Brief Romance cover here? Crazy.