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| WE MISS BOB Or: how bands invariably let you down along the line. Any idlewild fan will tell you, something is very wrong. The post-Bob leaving numbness has worn off, and with a Bob-less world tour almost done, the fans have been re-evaluating, re-assessing, looking back and taking stock and just plain realizing, we want Bob back. Ok it's not like he's dead or anything, it could be worse, we could have another Richey Edwards or Kurt Cobain on our hands, and yeah we have our new idlewild substitute, Degrassi, but it's not the same. We still want to love Idlewild, but attachments are fading, and instead a bitterness and resentment at being let down is replacing the old love. It's hard being a fan of a band. You will invariably be let down somewhere along the line. Cardiff Students Union, 7th February 2003. This was crunchtime. With Bob on board, 'The Remote Part' had seemed like an alright album. Maybe not as passionate and energetic as previous outputs, but there were some good tracks. Post-Bob, and now somehow it feels dead, soulless and you'd be hard pushed to find a track you genuinely adored. The album is one thing, and playing live is a whole other story. If you close your eyes, they sound like idlewild. If you don't look to the right of the stage, they even look like idlewild. But they sure don't FEEL like idlewild. And idlewild were always a band very much in touch with the feel side of things. They made you feel happy, they made you feel sad, they made you feel like a ten ton truck had hit your feeble body, your squishy bits flying in all directions. Now idlewild are stale pepsi. No fizz. Everything is played with oil slicked competence. They tease us with 'You Just Have To Be Who You Are', try and keep the old legions happy with 'I am A Message' and 'Film for A Future' but ultimately it's just heartbreaking to witness. They even attempted 'Anihilate Now!' . Why the fuck play that? I bet they secretly can't stand it anymore. The rest of the band have moved on, and left most of us behind wandering just what the fuck happened. What the fuck has happened. It seems Roddy is firmly in charge, he's the Captain now. It's his ship, and he's steering it towards multi-million selling albums and stadiums and if anyone is not shaped up they're thrown over-board. Bob, the old seadog, was made to walk the plank as the price of mega-success. It was the Coldplay tour that did it. And fans site that as the worst they've ever seen idlewild. "I saw them on the first date of the coldpish tour at their absolute, utter worst…When Bob left so did the energy of the band, most of its mystique (if you can use a word like that, heh) and a whole lot of other good points. But his leaving is not the cause of idlewild going down the toilet so much as a symptom of it. The rot set in the day they wrote 'I Never Wanted'" Marmot, Idleboard regular Roddy was someone I used to have endless respect for. He was awkward, intelligent, spoke up about issues, was one hell of a front man, and most importantly, he wasn't a cock. Success has a bigger price than Bob, for young Roderick has developed an ego. He poses on stage in proper 'Hail to the king, baby' fashion. He moans and whines in interviews. He's turning into a pretensions, arrogant brat. But this wasn't supposed to be about Roddy, it's supposed to be about Bob. For some fans, Bob just WAS idlewild. "Anyone who is "over Bob," probably only got into Idlewild in the last two years. To anyone else, Bob was Idlewild" Massage, Idleboard regular Mostly it feels like missing a limb. Yeah you've got a synthetic replacement but it's still fake, a real leg is a real leg, and Idlewild really did stand on Bob. Feeling is uneasy. No one wants to completely abandon the band, to jump ship with Bob, but staying on board is feeling more like an obligation rather than something at one point you would've killed your mother to do. Only time will tell if this anti nu-idlewild feeling will grow and grow and more people quit allegiance. One thing's for sure, the fans are a hundred-per-cent behind Bob and Degrassi. "A lot of people have said on here (Idlewild message board) that Idlewild now aren't the same band they fell in love with years ago. I mean, I only really fell in love with them last summer when I saw them live, having carefully followed them for a while, and still, I don't like them as much any more. I was glad that I had been able to see a great gig when bob was still in the band (even if it was a short set), cos having seen them with Gavin recently, they're not the same live force that they used to be. Gavin, yes, he looks nice, he's got stage presence and he can play the bass. But he isn't a LEGEND. Bob is just one of those characters that there's a whole mystique about, once it's gone, you can never replace it. I remember at the Hanover Grand gig, just after These Wooden Ideas, Roddy looked as foul as a wet winter in Inverness. The crowd started going "Smile, Roddy, ya bastard, SMILE!" and the snivelling little shite stood there probably thinking, "If I smile, I'm so gonna ruin my moody stage presence." And then Bob jumps in front of him, arms outstretched, with a grin planted on his face that would rival even mine. I don't quite know why that was relevant, maybe it's not, but the fact remains that Bob is still a legend, he's not going to be forgotten in a hurry. RIP iDLEWiLD, it's I D L E W I L D to you sir. Long live Degrassi." Del, Idleboard regular Rachel Duluoz, writing as a dis-enchanted idlewild fan Thanks to the Idleboard regulars. |