13 March 2015 (gig)
22 March 2015
‘Be careful down there’ warns Idlewild guitarist Rod Jones to an enthusiastic pit during the concert, ‘none of us are getting any younger.’ or words to that effect. It some how sums up where Idlewild were and are now. Once the darlings of the indie-rock scene, they’ve ventured beyond that. Band members broadened their horizons with a variety of different projects, and at one point it almost seemed as if Idlewild was the side project. They have however come back with a new album that reflects new or latent influences, sounding unwound and unworried.
That sense of relaxation, and confidence, runs through tonight’s concert with Roddy Woomble sauntering around the stage with nary a care in the world – even during the ‘harder’ numbers - and in fine vocal form. Leaving Rod Jones and Andrew Mitchell (and occasionally Luciano Rossi) to leap around and do the rock star throwing shapes thing.
It’s a well thought out set; deft song selections and sequencing sees the band cover and contrast songs from all periods of their career. Take newbie opener Nothing I Can Do About It seguing into the evergreen You Held the World in Your Arms, the latter creating the sort of centrifuge at the front that would have Hotpoint wetting itself.
And that’s the pattern for the night with some curveballs thrown in. The on paper impossible sequence of Come on Ghost, Quiet Crown and the angular jabs of A Film of the Future is sublime. Of the new material the lengthy So Many Things to Decide’s is a highlight bringing to mind the Allman Brothers in full flow. Also, adding Hannah Fisher is a masterstroke; her violin broadens the sound and that she’s a multi-instrumentalist gives them a chance to mess around a bit as on Captain.
Biggest cheers - and spontaneous singalongs – are for the marmite American English, and the far more crowd friendly El Capitan. Closing the set with a glorious Utopia brings Idlewild full circle. Encores aplenty culminating with a blasting A Modern Way of Letting Go, and an impassioned In Remote Part/Scottish Fiction.
No one could ask anything more of Idlewild tonight: a retrospective and a prospective of their work rolled up in a fabulous concert.
Photograph courtesy of Rob Ball/WireImage
