“If someone talked to you / The way you do to you / I’d put their teeth through / Love yourself!”
IDLES- “Television”
Photos by Keifer Lamberth
Over the course of their fifteen year career, British rock band IDLES have earned their reputation as one of the most brutal live acts in the world. But an attentive listener will notice that their rabidly shouted lyrics are shockingly thoughtful – their anger is rooted in a hatred for injustice more than anything else. This unique friction (or perhaps partnership) between compassion and violence is what’s given the band their diehard fanbase, and it’s also what makes their shows so incredibly unique.
On the first night of their sold-out stop at the Hollywood Palladium, the ballroom was occupied by a group that could only be described as looking like true IDLES fans. Mullets, tank tops, and mustaches seemed to be the implicit dress code, along with merchandise bearing the band’s newest slogan – “LOVE IS THE FING.” The many couples in the crowd excitedly talking about the show to come demonstrated that IDLES’ fans have really taken it to heart.
After the audience had mostly filled up the floor, Protomartyr stepped out to open the night. Whereas IDLES look at the unfortunate state of the world and come out of it with optimism, the Detroit-based post-punk band take away a dystopic cynicism. The despondent atmosphere of “Pontiac 87” and the propulsive rhythm of “Dope Cloud” immersed the audience into the hazy world of frontman Joe Casey’s sardonic lyrics. While Casey’s stage presence seemed limited to the radius around his microphone stand, his fiery glares and intense shouts dominated the show, even with the massive instrumentals behind him. “Y’know we’ve got a controversies page,” Casey quipped in a rare break between songs. “Ha! No we don’t.”
In the 15 minute wait after Protomartyr’s set, the tension was palpable – the crowd clearly itching for the upcoming violence. Clearly anticipating this, IDLES opened with two of their biggest slow-burners, “IDEA 01” and “Colossus”. The ominous build of the former painfully extended the lengthy build-up on the latter, with bone-shaking guitars and drums gradually rising to a manic climax. Frontman Joe Talbot’s repeated and manic cries of “Go, go, go, go, go!” similarly sent the crowd into a screaming mess, before suddenly stopping the track. When the stage lights turned back on, Talbot, with a foreboding calmness, commanded the crowd to split into two halves. After the crowd obliged, Talbot proceeded to whip both the crowd and the song back into raucous fury with a cry of “Viva Palestina!”, birthing the moshpit that would last for the subsequent two hours.
Anyone seeking respite would be disappointed, with the band only picking up the pace and volume of their set. Despite spanning seven years of differing sounds, the sheer catchiness and power of each of their songs made these differences moot. Vicious tracks like “Gift Horse” and “Mr. Motivator” raised hell with IDLES’ signature combination of screeching guitars and monstrous beats from drummer Jon Beavis. Meanwhile, slower tracks like “POP POP POP” and “The Beachland Ballroom” also moved the crowd, driven more by bassist Adam Devonshire’s driving style. Anyone who’s ever criticized Talbot’s writing for focusing too much on “quotables” hasn’t had the near-religious experience of hearing thousands chanting “I’m feeling mani-fucking-fique” or “Fuck the king!” at the top of their lungs. Throughout the show, the band clearly had a trust in the audience, not only with Talbot’s many directions for the crowd to sing along, but also with their own bodily safety. In that regard, one of the most memorable moments of the show came during the bridge of ”Benzocaine”, where guitarist Lee Kieran successfully crowd surfed his way to the center of the pit, the first of many times he would do so.
With how uninhibited the audience was, their simultaneous etiquette ended up being one of the most impressive parts of the show. Of course, every time that Kieran surfed the crowd, people treated him with reverence. Even when he would form miniature pits to play amongst the crowd, no one hounded him for attention or selfies. Instead, people danced around him, laid their heads on his shoulders, closed their eyes, and shouted along to Talbot’s shouts. Whenever someone would fall over in the crowd, fellow audience members would immediately form a barrier, giving them time to safely get back up and into the action. The only things that weren’t safe in the pit were people’s phones – desperate cries of “has anyone seen a phone anywhere?!” fell upon deaf ears, perhaps encouraging fellow crowd members to live in the moment. It was all an impressive display of kinship amongst the band and their fans – but one that shouldn’t necessarily be surprising to anyone familiar with the band’s ethos of kindness and humility.
After the rapidfire middle section of the show, where tracks from all across their discography smashed together in savage glory, IDLES saw fit to play some of their biggest tracks, back-to-back. The absolute ridiculousness of “Never Fight a Man With a Perm”, the band’s most famous song, roared in the live setting, with the audience screaming along to every ridiculous lyric (“You’re one big neck with sausage hands!”). Recent single, “Dancer”, also brought the house down, this time with its jubilant message of self-confidence and unity, rather than over-the-top volume or speed. Afterwards, the band took a moment for the only moment of the show that could be described as even vaguely quiet – a brief “All I Want For Christmas Is You” cover, with Talbot and guitarist Mark Bowen comically drawing out the song’s high notes.
For the show’s final two songs, IDLES dedicated what time they had left to, in Talbot’s words, “anti-fascist fun”. “This song is now and forevermore for the people of Palestine”, he declared to the crowd’s screams of approval, before launching into their penultimate song, “Danny Nedelko.” Even after two hours straight of moshing, the band’s celebration of immigration and diversity brought the crowd to a floor-shaking dance on its final chorus. During the ear-splitting final track, “Rottweiler”, Bowen took over rallying duties for Talbot, leading a chant of “ceasefire now”. As he shouted the call over and over, his cries rose in intensity alongside the band’s jamming and the audience’s roars – one final moment of pure unity.
It was the perfect way to end the show, and a culmination of everything that the band stands for. Because as horribly cheesy as it is to say, IDLES really are all about love. About loving yourself, loving others, and having the guts to fight for the ability to do so. The name of the band’s sophomore album does a good job of putting this feeling into words: Joy as an Act of Resistance. And when experiencing the violent euphoria of IDLES live, it’ll be the only feeling you need.
You can listen to the latest IDLES album, TANGK, below:
