An IDLES show checks every box for a a punk performance. The music is loud, the crowd is aggressive and the stage is merely a suggestion. The band performed on Oct.17 at Terminal 5, with a pit for the moshers and three balconies for those who preferred to watch from above.
With support from Canadian band Preoccupations, formerly known as Viet Cong, Thursday night’s performance was proclaimed by IDLES frontman Joe Talbot as their largest show to date.
Preoccupations set the tone for the night. While an opening act can often feel like a filler, this one was anything but. Their music could be described as Stranger Things-punk, combining Depeche Mode-esque synths with aggressive punk riffs, drums and tempo.
And then IDLES began. The crowd was insatiable the instant drummer Jon Beavis hit the first notes of “Colossus” from 2018’s “Joy as an Act of Resistance.” The moshing crowd echoed the unbridled lyrics, including one of my personal favorites from the song, “I put homophobes in coffins.”
It came as a surprise that they played their three most popular songs —“Colossus,” “Never Fight a Man with a Perm” and “I’m Scum” — in the first quarter of the set. Those songs by themselves would have exhausted the average concert-goer, but the band and the crowd matched that energy for the entire 16-song set.
On first listen, IDLES songs may sound like the protests of any angry British man, but the band has real investments in a variety of political issues, which they voice through their lyrics.
Intermingling the songs, singer Joe Talbot told anecdotes about their meanings. He related his struggles with drug addiction before “Benzocaine,” and considered toxic masculinity on “Samaritans.” The song “Divide & Conquer” deals with socialism and “Television” ponders the negative effects of the media. Finally, “Danny Nedelko” is a pro-immigration stadium song. Despite the relevant messages behind their music, there was nothing contrived or preachy about the performance. Instead, the songs became a rally cry, inspiring the listener to pay attention to the issues that affect the world around them. Talbot encouraged the crowd to love one another, and for the night, they did.
About halfway through the set, mutton-chopped and bare-chested, guitarist Mark Bowen glided across the crowd, joining fellow surfers as he sang the lyrics of Adele songs and ballads from the musical “Grease” while his band members continued the instrumentation. Fellow guitarist Lee Kiernan joined his mate. Kiernan and Bowen rarely lasted two songs in a row without leaving the stage.
The invisible wall between the band and the crowd was non-existent at this show. For the night everyone was there for the same reason: to do what they love.
Email Sophia Letson-Ettin at [email protected].