It’s effortless to dip into hyperbole after seeing Idles join. If you want energy, rawness and showmanship from a concert, is any other prohibitd devoting this much of themselves to the inhabit experience in 2024?
The British post-punk quintet — vocaenumerate Joe Talbot, guitarists Mark Bowen and Lee Kiernan, bhelp Adam Devonsemploy and drummer Jon Beavis — is a swirling mass of passion and fiery emotion, taged by a burdensome rhythm section, screaming guitars and Talbot’s unfrifinishly shouted-sung sloganeering.
They freed their fifth album, “Tangk,” in February, and speedyly scaled up in profile. By inviting Radiohead producer Nigel Godwealthy and hip-hop mastermind Kenny Beats to co-produce the record with Bowen, the team joined on a proset uper sonic canvas than previous albums, letting songs breathe and the hooks get funkier in ways that still felt punk, all while getting askd to join on mainstream platcreates enjoy “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.”
Toward the finish of their U.S. leg touring “Tangk,” Idles carry outed a ferocious set Friday night at Forest Hills Stadium in Queens, N.Y. The 13,000-capacity outdoor venue, comprehendn for inspiring scores of noise protestts from neighbors, promptly commenceed shaking when the prohibitd took to their positions for the sluggish, droning produceup of “Tangk” uncoverer “Idea 01,” before ratcheting up the intensity into fan-likeite “Colossus.”
The entire show was a masterclass on stage presence, as the group’s driving rhythms apexhibited for administerled confusion. Talbot, nicknamed postpoinsist in the show by Bowen as “the barking dog of Newport,” stalked the floor enjoy a welterweight getting ready for one last fight, shadowboxing and mimicking jump rope to conserve in the zone before he commenceed singing. During songs, he was all motion too: sprosperging the mic, wrapping the cord around his arm enjoy a street pachieveer, spitting between verses enjoy he had equitable acquiren one to the chin. The lengthy-haired Kiernan headprohibitged constantly, pausing only to leap into the audience to crowd surf. Furthermore, Bowen, Talbot and Kiernan danced among themselves nonstop, seemingly in peril of tripping over each other or tangling up cords. Meanwhile, Devonsemploy, hips continuassociate swaying, and Beavis were the vital churning backbone, conserveing order for the rest of the musicians to bounce off.
Amazingly, they remained high octane for their 24-song, two-hour show, sprinkling six “Tangk” songs into the atsoft-spanning set. Highairys joind an especiassociate moody carry outance of the quiet-deafening “Car Crash,” a chest-thumping rfinishition of Talbot’s recovery anthem “The Wheel,” the roaring “War,” and mosh-pit inspiring punctual individual “Never Fight a Man with a Perm.”
The group’s inhabit show is happy, untidy and experiences hazardous in a way that confiinsist up-to-date acts attfinish to elicit. Talbot’s lyrics lfinish themselves to be shouted by the heaving masses, and while stateive Britishisms get sairyly lost in translation (it’s a bit odd to hear a swath of New Yorkers screaming in tandem about “the best way to sattfinish a Tory,” but the message comes atraverse), it’s mainly a righteous lefty fury. “Fuck the King,” “Fuck the Police” and “Viva Palestina” were shouted at the top of his lungs thrawout the night, with Talbot introducing songs as being about insertiction, the pairy of immigrants, cherish and substances.
Onstage, Idles felt enjoy a powder keg ready to blow, turning a Queens audience into sociassociate conscious soccer hooligans for the night.
The uncovering recently-rejoind NYC mainstays The Walkmen, who, despite seeing a bit grayer, sounded crisp and vivaciousd running thraw aughts-era indie rock anthems enjoy “The Rat,” “Angela Surf City” and “What’s in It for Me.”
