REVIEW: Idles @ Brighton Music Hall 09/20

By Matt Bandel

UK punk/post-punk band Idles are in the states on another American tour. Last time they were in the U.S., they didn’t come to Boston, so I wasn’t going to let this chance pass me by. The group first caught my attention last year with their debut album, Brutalism. It was filled from front to back with fast-paced, hard-hitting tracks that I came to fall in love with. Their intense sound and cheeky lyrics made every song inventive and fun.

In late August, Idles released their sophomore album, Joy as an Act of Resistance. On this project, the band was much more upfront about their politics that were hidden in metaphors on their previous record. This time they openly mock Brexit, toxic masculinity, and anti-immigrant attitudes along with a plethora of other lefty sentiments. The guitar playing is much tighter than on Brutalism, with more clean cut melodies as opposed to the waves of sound that assaulted your ears on their first album.

The band live was super rowdy and out of control on stage, and it was obvious they were really enjoying themselves. They opened up with “Colossus,” the first track on their new album. Drummer Jon Beavis came out on stage alone and began to play the slow, steady drum beat that started the track. The anticipation built as the other band members finally came out, with front man and lead singer Joe Talbot taking the helm. The intensity grew until its eventual explosion at the end of the song and the audience went crazy along with the band. Idles would continue to play some of their more intense songs such as “Never Fight a Man with a Perm,” “Mother,” and “Well Done.” The energy was amazing and it was incredible that the band managed to keep that energy going the entire performance.

I was really impressed by how genuine the band was. Talbot took time between songs to thank the crowd and told how he really couldn’t have done it without the fans. In an interview, Talbot revealed that between the two albums, all of the band members had to go back to work at their day jobs, and it was clear they would rather be together making music. The band wanted to make the crowd their priority, and they indulged the moshing and the stage diving. Talbot even helped a couple lucky fans who surfed their way to the stage up with them and let them stage dive off into the crowd. He did show some mixed feelings about the situation after a while as more and more people wanted to take their shot at crowd surfing and stage diving, but he wanted to just perform. I managed to get to the venue early and got a spot in the front right against the stage, so all of the stage divers and crowd surfers got pretty annoying after a while.

Despite this, the band truly engaged the crowd, with guitarists Mark Bowen (who came out in only his underwear and played the entire show that way) and  Lee Kiernan leaning off of the stage for the crowd to hold them up. During a guitar solo, the two of them went out into the crowd and jammed out in the middle of the audience. They let people play limbo under their guitars, and when they finally came back on stage, they did so with their guitars being played by two perplexed girls from the audience (who clearly did not know how to play guitar).

The band mixed the setlist well, alternating between the more chaotic songs, such as “Heel/Heal,” and “1049 Gotho” off of Brutalism with the more colorful and controlled songs from Joy as an Act of Resistance such as “Danny Nedelko” and “I’m Scum.” The hooks and choruses off of their second album are better written and tighter, thus they were more fun to chant and sing along with the rest of the crowd.

The guitar playing from Joy as an Act of Resistance (which I mentioned earlier was neater than the guitar on Brutalism) was muddied and crazier than on the album, so that the songs off of this project were just as lively and intense. This is perfectly exemplified on the last song of the album and the closer to the concert, “Rottweiler,” which is also my favorite song off of the new record. The track was the perfect, energetic ending to the concert, and the all-instrumental, feedback filled finale was even more nonsensical live. Mark Gowen, Lee Kiernan, and even bassist Adam Devonshire, who had been more reserved the entire show, got down and just messed around with their distortion pedals, creating a weird, psychedelic finish to the show.

The entire set was full of a fun, chaotic energy. The next morning I woke up sore from headbanging and my knees were bruised from being pressed up against the stage for so long. Idles are a genuine, hardcore, and entertaining rock band, and they really left everything on the stage. Talbot said he had to stop talking between songs since he was afraid of losing his voice. I had a great time at the concert and am excited to see where the band will go next.