Looking at this set of tour dates for hugely popular punk outfit IDLES – Alexandra Palace in London, M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool, OVO Hydro in Glasgow – the usually daunting Rock City stands out as one of the more intimate stops on their current UK tour, even with two sold out nights back-to-back. With the opportunity to catch the punk behemoths in this special setting simply too good to miss, we headed over to Talbot Street for night one…
Kicking things off tonight is Dot to Dot alumni Willie J Healey, who has drawn a reasonable crowd for his support slot. Operating as a five-piece band, they are led by Healey’s own gravelly vocals and some impressive, rip-roaring guitar riffs.
“You look handsome tonight Nottingham” he says at one point, paying compliment to those who have turned up early for him. While certainly polished and a great display of musicianship, the energy never quite kicks into second gear though, leading Healey to even ask the crowd “Still with us?” after a blues rock stomper. Not long after that, he introduces the band, thanks the audience and IDLES, then heads off the stage – an enjoyable if unmemorable showing.
There are sold-out shows at Rock City and then there are super sold-out shows, and this IDLES show definitely feels like the latter. By the time Willie J Healey and his band exit the stage, the Rock City Hall is absolutely rammed. Soon enough, the lights go dark and the ominous sounds of IDEA 01 reverberate around the room as the band take their places on the stage. Enigmatic frontman Joe Talbot is the last to emerge, only he seems to be having some tech issues with his in-ear monitors. He stares and motions to the wings, before eventually taking them out and dropping the ear-pieces on the floor.
The small niggles are quickly shaken off though with Colossus, which sees guitarist Lee Kiernan immediately take off crowd-surfing, axe in-hand. Recent single Gift Horse follows, with the first mosh pits commencing as everyone enthusiastically joins in on the fun “Look at him gooooo!” chorus.
Talbot then sarcastically dedicates Mr. Motivator to local legends Sleaford Mods, no doubt referencing their much-publicised feud from a few years back. It’s carnage in the pit once again, with Talbot the conductor of chaos at the front of the stage, leaning forward and firing everyone up with his growls and bellows. A storming start to the set!
“Been a while since I could spit on the ceiling” says Talbot at the song’s conclusion, making note of the cosiness of the venue as he indeed hocks some saliva at the stage roof. It’s a blessing and a curse tonight, as the aptly-titled Car Crash sees a nasty altercation in the crowd right beside us. It’s instigated due to everyone’s proximity to one another, with some rogue limbs causing the offence. Thankfully security intervenes and is able to diffuse the situation, allowing the rest of the evening to go on undisturbed. I guess Love isn’t always The Fing!
Affection eventually hangs in the air once again, as a cry of “YOU SEXY BASTARD!” emanates from someone in the audience, sent in the direction of Joe Talbot. “I am not… a bastard!” he wittily replies, before letting “any scumbags in the audience – know you are loved”. He then starts rapidly jogging on the spot at the opening rumble of I’m Scum, like a boxer warming up for a big fight, before playing up to the song’s lyrics by kicking over Kiernan’s microphone stand. He waits for
his stage manager to run on, reposition it and run back off the stage, before then kicking it over again as soon as he’s left. Harsh, but admittedly quite funny!
After a run which includes TANGK cuts Roy and Jungle, Talbot honestly opens up with the crowd about his and his mother’s addictions, sharing how music has helped saved him. It leads into The Wheel, which immediately sees a crowd surfer launched with venom out of nowhere from the back of the venue, Jon Beavis stomping his drums as this happens. Talbot then asks “Can I get a hallelujah?” at the song’s dramatic climax, which soon morphs into chants of “Viva Palestina!” that causes the audience to join in with him, belting out the message.
After Gratitude is dedicated to the audience and support act Willie J Healey, Benzocaine sees guitarist Lee Kiernan once again enter the crowd, this time joined by band mate and other guitarist Mark Bowen. The pair of them stand firmly in the middle of the vortex, their guitars in the air, as the energised audience furiously circles around them. It’s an incredible visual that sees the circle pit implode at the song’s ferocious climax.
After that, Talbot commands the audience once again, heartfully saying: “If you ever feel alone, share your feelings – it may save your life or someone else’s”. It’s a fitting prelude to Samaritans, which then leads into the duo of Crawl! and The Beachland Ballroom. After a noticeable lack of crowd surfers tonight (bar mainly Kiernan and Bowen!), the latter track sees gentle wave after wave start to make their way over the bodies in the pit, lurching slowly towards the front barrier, ensuring the song lives up to the CRAWLER album title from which it is lifted.
It's then into the home straight, and the seismic riff of Never Fight A Man With A Perm nearly takes the roof off. It understandably gets the biggest reaction of the night, with a sweaty sea of humans crashing into each other once again.
“Nottingham, shall we dance?!” asks Talbot rhetorically, before launching into the catchy strut of LCD Soundsystem collab, Dancer, which sees the crowd all shaking their hips in unison.
“Thanks for making us feel so welcome in your home” says Talbot to huge applause from the audience, everyone knowing there’s sadly not long left in the set. “Speaking of which, this is dedicated to the immigrants who make our country great”. There’s an eruption as the band launch into Danny Ndelko, the audience vehemently belting out the song’s chorus as the wild mosh pits continue. At the song’s conclusion, we are treated to Talbot giving the crowd a few acapella bars of Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You, the jubilant crowd hilariously joining in with the festive spirit.
“You’ve been magic, we’ve been IDLES – Auf Wiedersehen!” yells Talbot one final time, before the band emphatically end the night on Rottweiler, which finishes bang on the 11pm curfew.
This was my first time seeing IDLES perform in-person and this two-hour set of adrenaline-fuelled carnage showed exactly why the Bristol natives are so famed for their live shows. Rightfully now packing out the UK’s biggest music venues, this was an arena-sized performance in the cosy surroundings of a packed Rock City – and a real treat for all the lucky ones who experienced it.
IDLES performed at Rock City on 25th & 26th November 2024. This review is of the show on Monday, 25th.
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