Idles, Heavy Lungs - Institute, Birmingham - Oct 26, 2018

Heavy Lungs
The band were all over the stage, in a good way. The drummer, shirtless from the outset, was either screaming into the mic (not singing, shrieking) or sticking his tongue out KISS style for the entirety of the set. Meanwhile the singer (the Danny Nedelko) couldn't dance but he sure did move - essentially repeating a chosen gyration a bunch of times until deciding to move on to the next. Arms swinging, head swirling, whatever it was it filled every gap between his vocals. In time he also removed his shirt and began doing push-ups on the kick drum. These two were the scene for me although the guitarist was pretty impressive, more for his actual musical talent. I can't say the music was mind-blowing yet I did enjoy it. Despite listening to their limited selection of online tunes a few times through in preparation I only recognized one of them when it was played live and it was the only slightly slower song of the set. Altogether it was a powerful, enjoyable showing of a hugely energetic group on the upswing.


Idles
With a 10pm curfew the room filled in swiftly between 7:30 when the openers hit the stage and 8:30 when the main event were due. In the past year, almost to the day, Idles have gone from headlining a mini local festival for a couple hundred to easily selling out the gorgeous Institute for a couple thousand not just fans but rabid admirers. The cheers began as Jon, the drummer, casually took his place at the kit, followed by Mr Beauty Beard (Adam) who revved things up drum and bass style, so to speak, with a protracted intro to Colossus, until the rest of the members arrived. And with the first snarl from Joe, the floor was transformed into a roiling pit that would not let up throughout the rest of the set.

Obviously being the Joy as an Act of Resistance tour they pulled heavily from the new release (playing everything but June actually), with an early highlight being Danny Nedelko, including an appearance from the inspiration for the song himself that ended with a kiss shared with Joe. Also during that tune the guitarist came down to the edge of the crowd to lead the spelling bee. The crowd ate up the hilarious Never Fight a Man with a Perm, shouting out the title to add punctuation to the tune. When Joe asked who here was scum plenty answered his call and voiced it loudly. So as not to keep early adopters waiting too long they dipped back into Mother and also tossed Heal/Heel into the mix with alternating thumbs up and down for each burst of the title.

Love Song didn't offer much new played live versus the record but it did give us a chance to hug our friends or consenting strangers on Joe's request which saw this reviewer in a joyous four-way hug with a mixed assemblage of punks. It was also around this time in the set they changed it up as the band started pulling people from the crowd onto the stage to sing, dance and play along. Yes, play! They gave out drum sticks and even a guitar to one girl to strum although she had no idea how and ended up on someone's shoulders by the end of the song, still clutching it. Easily a dozen lucky people clambered over the rail and onto the stage until the end of Exeter when Joe had to shoo them off. "I don't want to be rude but if I don't tell you to go you'll forget we're trying to put on a gig here and want to stay for a chat. It happened in Leeds!"

Television (or was it Cry to Me?) was introed by Joe with a quick word about depression, as he's known to be vocal about, well, being vocal and reaching out if in need. While he explained that Gram Rock was about the utter dummies (my word, I forget his) running the country, two of whom snorted cocaine at a funeral (in this apparently imagined scenario). The song then gave us the surreal experience of screaming "ten points for Gryffindor" in public.

Of course, it all crescendoed as mandatory Well Done revved everyone up and then Rottweiler signaled the end of the night. It still seems odd to have the face of the band leave halfway through the finale and skip the curtain call but alas the rest of the boys made a spectacle of it, drowning our cheers out with feedback and reverb. Mark came down to crowd surf, then back on stage balanced his axe on his head before skipping it like a jump rope, and then sliding it across the stage.
Although it was exhausting to even remain on two feet in the pit with all the commotion we still chanted along to Samaritans and found the breath to spell out our review of the gig - G.R.E.A.T. They're great!

All Years Leaving - Hare and Hounds - Oct 20, 21, 2018

Saturday

Dama Scout - A 3 piece including a female singer, and your standard guitar/drum/bass instrumental set-up offering up some grungy riffs. Came across as typical low-fi indie rock for the majority of the set though the final three songs brought it up a little, especially the tempo shifting Email Girl.

Independent Country - countrified version of indie songs including Jesus and Mary chain. Slide guitar and lots of the embroidered country shirts. 5 middle aged men.

Baywaves - 4 piece from Madrid which made sense I've they announced it with the hair and the vibe. Some light synths and perhaps in a nod to the name, surfy guitars. They were upbeat and appreciative "thanks for being nice to us" and could have played on if it were up to me

Menace Beach - 5 (1 f, guitar bunch of stuff, vocals shared with other man. Male guitarist had a lead vocals but sound want great) with a whole adornment of equipment, keys, synths, moogs, samplers plus two electric guitars and a bass. Headband drummer. Black rainbow sound song. Also had background screensaver that was kinda trippy.

Bank Accounts - one very outgoing singer guitarist, Sophie his small stand up drummer and his right hand jester on guitar too. It was more stand up comedy or performance art where the music, mostly short bursts of simple, tongue in check songs that guy us through to the next bit of banter, much of it planned with a bubble machine, passing around a bottle of champagne and then cheap corner store rum afterwards. A singalong almost got off the ground but not fully.

Speedy Ortiz - 4 piece with female lead and bass, had pretty decent music, not quite to dance to and not super rock out. Probably would have been better if I'd been more familiar

The Orielles - 4 piece of young and energetic musicians. Male guitarist was the ringleader but the female was the vocalist, and the curly, long haired kid on keys was the best addition. They played like they've had some seasoning which is probably true at this point. Finishing just a few minutes before curfew with what appeared to be their biggest hit single they pulled it off quite well but not leaving a lifelong impression.

Sunday

Mush - false starting with an electrified mic the all male four piece from Leeds went beyond the auspicious start. Although they started with jangly guitars over the driving drum beats they did show more mature songwriting then my first impression. Although there was one lead vocalist to others chimed in at times for echoes and call and response. Burning through the set to try and make up for lost time there wasn't much banter but they seemed casually funny in a dry way. In restarting one song due to an early misfire the singer chided them, "C'mon lads..!" A favourite refrain was "How do you survive in this gig economy? I live within my means!" The finale was a lengthy ride regarding Alternative Facts and was an enjoyable ride.

Snail Mail
True to the album she kept the whiny, almost crying vocals throughout. It was even more convincing as bathed in red light on the stage it was very reminiscent of their album cover. Unapologetically asking for more and less things in her monitor through the microphone in the middle of the first couple songs, plus a spot of feedback, didn't bode well and it seemed she might be put off it. However that didn't happen and after they soldiered through the first few they seemed to settle in. As with the album the music didn't quite grab and arrest me but it's obviously won them a solid following. They casually said they were from Baltimore which is hardly a notorious music scene that I'm aware of but carried on with American airs. She was the ringleader, with the drummer her go to, the two guys on guitar and bass hardly factored in, simply playing their notes on the wings. This went a step further when without any notice everyone just got up and left the stage, leaving the singer strumming until they were gone, never to be seen until they were going back up the stairs that we were filing out at the end. She was left playing a slow, drawn out tune solo with someone in the crowd failing to sing along loudly throughout for a high cringe.

Warmduscher
Four piece, with funky bass riffs. They were quite odd, especially the sunglassed lead singer with the multiple mega reverb mics. It almost seemed like a joke band, or something like that shitty English two piece * but I think they were taking it seriously and in this case the music at least was actually rather good. The name on the other hand, pronounced the way you wish it weren't, isn't.

Sunshine Frisbee Laser Beam
The local male four piece were billed as an acoustic set but but instead were crammed on the ground floor in the corner fully electric. With a new album out they did they were going to play it front to back. They only had a half hour set so I'm not sure that they accomplished it but they did play a bunch of great tunes, seeming to improve as the set went on. In spite of the band they aren't all out there or happy go lucky, it's clean indie rock, leaning towards rock grooves than indie hooks. I really liked it and even as most everyone else headed upstairs for Goat Girl I stuck with them.

Goat Girl
A six piece filled the stage with women holding down all the positions of two guitars, bass, violin, drums, and the lone male on the shaker (and keys? I couldn't tell as I was near the back.) I'd grown a bit tired of them on record but live they had strong song composition, a good lead vocalist and were engaging. Not much banter or nonsense except a weird delay before the second last song as the drummer seemed to be arguing to play a certain song and I think held it hostage until she got her way.

Dream Wife
Coming out to pump up music in a matching colour palette, the four piece had already stolen the show for the whole festival by the end of track one. And rightly so as they were the headliners and closers, for the first time they said initially then took it back to mock boos, remembering headlining a barn once. The lead singer (using IEMs for the first time) was absolutely beaming and pouring energy into the thing from the start to end, with the women flanking her doing much the same. The male drummer didn't factor in quite as highly but that's not the worst role for a drummer. Many women had already taken it upon themselves to be right at the front but a few songs in all the "bad bitches" got a proper invitation to the front and a bunch more took them up on it for Somebody. The technical definition given to be a bad bitch was not gender related as long as you supported the rest of your bad bitches, they filling the room. The guitarist with the drastic blonde haircut absolutely shredded whenever she got the chance, which was often enough. The highlight had to be Fuck You Up FUU as it had everyone in the front throwing their hands and voices in the air along with a solid clap along. All this even with the singer's mic dropping dead partway through, forcing her to grab the bassist's mic and the others to share making the moment all the more special. After that all that was left Let's Make Out which kept the energy up until they left the stage. The house music came up immediately dispelling any chance for an encore to the short 45 minute set (with a dozen minutes left to curfew) but there was still love in the air and it felt like people were going to take the finale's title literally, sure enough on the way out I saw a few couples who were doing just that.