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!
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