Live Review: Idles Burn Up Boston with an Intense Show at Roadrunner
Maybe it was Turnstile who showed that hardcore, whatever that means these days, can pack in large venues with music that will stay blissfully deep under the general public’s awareness, and Idles are right there with them, step by step.
Though formed in 2009, it was their sophomore record Joy as An Act of Resistance from 2018 where they really picked up momentum and I’m sure that most people who caught their debut Boston show at Brighton Music Hall haven’t skipped a show since then.
Fire, intensity, power, and love. This isn’t your toxic masculinity hardcore band of yore. Singer Joe Talbot and the rest of the band practice what they preach, inclusion of all stripes mandatory, no exceptions. On the heels of the state-sponsored murder of Marcellus Williams, Talbot dedicated “I’m Scum” to him and his family, with the “I sing at fascists ’til my head comes off” line basically the band’s manifesto.
The band has been out on the road touring their latest record Tangk, with Boston being stop number 70 on their “Love Is the Fing Tour”. It’s fun to see the opening of a tour, but true heads know that the end of the tour is when the band has memory muscle fully dialed in, the songs stripped of all fat and turned into a sinewy beast. This was on full display through the 25 songs, ending with the opening act coming English Teacher on and going off the stage to join in for a raucous closer of “Rottweiler.”
As with all Idles shows, this was an all-ages one and a young boy propped up on his dad’s shoulders got the attention of Talbot late in the gig. He tossed the frontman a custom shirt with his name on the back and Idles emblazoned on the front, text displayed in a full color spectrum.
The sold-out room’s floor section was a writhing organism all night, continually flecked by crowd surfers as they made their way over the barricade. Guitarists Lee Kiernan and Mark Bowen would also join in the group activity, making new friends up close and personal.
Along with Idles’ evergreen advice of never fighting a man with a perm, you can also add another, never skip out on a show when they are in town.
Fellow U.K. act English Teacher have been riding a crest of press fueled by virtue of their debut record This Could Be Texas winning the Mercury Prize as best record of 2024, topping heavyweight contenders such as Charli XCX’s Brat and fellow hype riders The Last Dinner Party.
That award puts a fair bit of pressure on the band, and while they were certainly more than competent at their instruments and created a nice sonic tapestry, at times it felt like they took a Frankenstein approach to their songs, bolting random pieces on willy-nilly and cohesion wasn’t really a strong suit. We’ll see how their future unfolds.
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