A Date to Remember
Saturday the 20th October was a pretty unremarkable day. I spent it doing tedious household chores. Pretty unmemorable really.
But come 10pm that had all changed. Saturday evening of the 20th October 2018 in the QMU in Glasgow from around 8.30pm until 10pm was extraordinary 90 minutes, long to live in the memory, a date to be written into my history.
Joy as an Act of Resistance
For too long I have listened to people long in the tooth dissing the music of today…No originality. They are just trying to be the new…whoever. Is there such a thing as originality now, can anyone do something that hasn’t been done before? At the end of the day, I don’t care. IDLES is one of the most exciting prospects I’ve seen or heard in years.
At nearly 50 years old, my IDLES live duck was well and truly broken. From the second IDLES took to the stage to the final squally feedback-drenched discordant dissonant wall of noise and flashing strobes of Rottweiler, I was absorbed in the spectacle of their musical manifesto.
UNITY
I certainly wasn’t alone. The venue was rammed, the AF Gang was out in force. I’m sure this is the last opportunity we’ll get to see IDLES in such an intimate setting. The community is spreading. UNITY.
Building the foundations of a set to remember, Joy as an Act of Resistance opener, Colossus, saw the band taking to the stage one by one, the track building to its crashing crescendo with the Glasgow crowd going wild in response. The heaving mass of bouncing bodies in the pit reached almost to the back of the room. That was the way to open and believe me, it didn’t let up until that very last squealing note at the end of Rottweiler before the house lights came up and the amps were switched off.
Exceptional and Vital
Bands come and go. Bands often tagged as special or important. Some hang around, others disappear. Maybe they have a great intent but they can’t back it up with their message or lyrics. Maybe they have the lyrics and the passionate message, but don’t have the tunes to back it up. Maybe the tunes are all they have and people lose interest. Sometimes they are just all about the image.
IDLES is one of those exceptionally vital bands. They have the tunes, they have the musicianship, they have the passion in bucketloads, they have the words, they have the politics (small p) – the social conscience. I don’t doubt that other bands have a passionate message for those who are prepared to listen. But when it comes from someone like Bono, or Chris Martin, it often just comes across as patronising. There is something about the way IDLES convey their message that makes you really believe in them. They mean it, man.
Image? Bah!
To my discredit, I made a stupid comment a while back. I heard both IDLES albums before I knew what they looked like. I said something along the lines of, if I’d seen what they looked like before I heard them, it may have put me off. How shallow. IDLES are not about image. In fact, they are anti-image. They are the opposite of the uniformed punk-police who follow other “punk” bands and frown upon those who aren’t as “individual” as they are. IDLES do not need an image. Their music and fervour speak for themselves. A point proved by my having loved everything about both albums before I knew who made up the band.
G-R-E-A-T
And that music certainly did speak for itself. Where else can you go to a gig that the band plays songs about Depression (1049 Gotho), Immigration (the magnificent Danny Nedelko), Brexit – “the worst fucking decision this country has ever made” (GREAT), Feminism “I’m a feminist” (Mother), Toxic Masculinity (Samaritans – Man up, sit down, chin up, pipe down, socks up, don’t cry…), Money (Gram Rock – I’m sorry your grandads dead, lovely spread….I scored a win badda badda bing) and all the rest and not feel as if you’re being preached to?
Well, we got them all, and more. Singalongs to I’m Scum, the afore-mentioned Great and Danny Nedelko, Faith in the City appealing to the Glasgow Bucky massive and advice to his daughter on Television and the lyrical masterpiece of Never Fight a Man with a Perm.
Intense
18 tracks of sheer magnificent intensity (and a quick run through of Mariah Carey – All I Want for Christmas for good measure). If there was one tiny thing that spoiled it was the small number of knuckleheads that were more interested in crowd-surfing instead of enjoying the music. Special kudos goes to the muppet who tried it at the fringes and only succeeded in sending my phone flying and knocking someone else to the floor. Perhaps these idiots haven’t listened to the lyrics properly and are just drawn to the menacing sound of the band? Anyway, there is always one, and we cant let one twat spoil a magnificent evening.
So – highlights? What highlights? I couldn’t possibly negate the strength of the whole performance by singling out individual moments or songs. Obviously, those who were invited on to the stage with the band will be living off that for years to come, but for me, the solid 90 minutes of brilliance had the whole crowd bouncing, singing and sweating start to finish and was truly awesome.
Goes and it goes, and it goes, goes and it goes and it goes. Of course it does. Awesome AF.
AIL. X