REVIEW: Idles @ Royale 10/16

By Matt Bandel

Photos by Zoe Salvucci

Last year, I saw Idles live in concert at Brighton Music Hall. The band was touring their newest album and it was a really great show. So great that I wrote a raving review about it for this very website. Since that tour, the band has not released a full length project. Despite this, I still made sure to check them out when they came back to the States since I had so much fun the last time I had seen them. Even if it was the exact same experience, I would do it all again. The band did a really great job about switching things up, and I think I enjoyed Idles even more the second time around. As to not contradict myself, I really want to highlight how the band changed the show and managed to stay fresh, but check out my previous review here for some reference.

This time around Idles performed at the Royale. At a larger venue, there wasn’t the same intimacy of their 2018 show, but more people meant more energy for the band to really feed off of, a worthy trade. The main difference was really the chaos, and this was shown in a couple different areas. Just like for their previous show, the band opened with “Colossus” the opening track to their newest album, but that was really as far as similarities went. As he stepped out, the first thing front man Joe Talbot said, before singing even one lyric, was, “take care of each other.” It was a really ominous warning, but considering how crazy things got it was probably necessary. After the first song, the group jumped right into “Heel/Heal”, the first song off of their first album. I was surprised they weren’t going to stop and introduce themselves, but it was great to just ride the momentum.

Last year Idles spent more of the show playing their new album, Joy as an Act of Resistance. This time they incorporated more songs from their first album, Brutalism. As the name suggests this album is much more intense. While Joy as an Act of Resistance is more focused on the message of standing up to the rise of right-wing politics and nationalistic/anti-immigrant sentiments (both in the band’s home of the UK and here in the states) the songs on Brutalism are only tied together stylistically, not thematically (both are still great projects). Talbot still took the time to explain the meaning behind a lot of the songs, which I really appreciated. He elaborated on how “Mother” was written about his mother and how she instilled feminist values in him and how “1049 Gotho” is about mental health. I really appreciated these new additions to the setlist.

The performance by the band was also a little bit sloppier than last year. This could be seen as a negative, but it really fit the wild atmosphere. Idles were going just as crazy as their fans. Guitarist Lee Keirnan crowd surfed multiple times and got so far out that audience members had to hold the cord to his guitar over their heads. It was really cool to see the band members getting as into the performance as fans were. And the fans were definitely into it. The mosh pit continued literally the entire time. I had to duck in and out of the crowd to give myself time to catch my breath. By the time the show ended, my shirt was literally soaked in sweat and I was so tired I ready to pass out on the T ride home. Idles were an absolute blast to see again. The setlist was way smoother. I really appreciated the mix of older songs, and there were some cuts like “Benzocaine” that I wasn’t expecting to hear but am really glad I did. They still did all of their newer hits like “Danny Nedelko” and “I’m Scum.” Just like how they opened the same way as last year, Idles closed the same way as well with “Rottweiler”, the most high intensity ending that really just culminated the experience. It’s clear the band has worked on improving their live experience, and just about everything about this concert was better than the first. I look forward to whatever Idles does next and their return to the US so I can catch them live a third time.