Idlewild are hailed almost like Gods. As they shyly swagger onto the stage, the crowd go wild, cries of "Roddy, Roddy!" from fans. As the first few opening bars of "Listen to What You’ve Got" are sounded, the distortion pedal on full and the bass tumbling beneath the melody, the moshers go mad, and crowd-surfers are seen everywhere. Punters go crazy to the chorus, sweaty bodies hurl themselves in all directions, and flying half-full beer glasses provide a cool shower in the stifling temperature. Roddy soft voice contrasts sharply with the raw rock of the track, and as he shouts his lines he looks extremely vulnerable, his little, wiry body teetering all over the brink of the stage. Every track is played with the same dynamic, raw energy, and the crowd respond by giving them their energy right back.

Their set is split into 2 parts, an incredible mixture of old and new, including "Little Discourage" with lyrics that could well become an modern anthem, "Rusty" with it’s amazingly moshable chorus, "I don’t have the map" which is greeted with a roar of approval, "These wooden ideas", and "Actually it’s darkness", the mish-mashed musical concept that is "Idea track", and older favourites such as "Everyone say’s you’re so fragile", with it’s gloriously clashy guitar riffs and "4 people do good" with it’s angsty bass and rife ridden lyrics. The first part of the set is ended with the gloriously anthem-like "Roseability", which is given the same welcoming roar as "When I argue I see shapes". The pounding drum part kicked in, then built up to the deeply grumbling, angry climaxing chorus, and as Roddy shouts "And Gertrude Stein said that’s enough" the crowd roar back at him "I know that that’s not enough now". The crowd-surfers surf madly, and everyone is loving the track.

When the catchy, jangly guitar intro of "When I argue I see shapes" is played, there is a huge elated cheer from the crowd. As Roddy sings the line "when I argue I see shapes", the crowd shouts back "shapes!" in enthusiastic response. The atmosphere is electric.

Then the house lights came up, and shouts of "Come on Roddy!" are heard, then an impatient stamping and chanting of "Idlewild, Idlewild!". After about 5 minutes, the band emerge, but wait - it’s only Rod and Roddy! The beautiful soaring chords of "I’m happy to be here tonight" is played and the crowd know they are in for a real treat. The raw, genuine ballad-like track is strangely emotional, and a couple of girls in front of me promptly burst into tears. Quite rightly too, as it is just beautiful, almost spiritual. We all bliss out, as Rod strums away and Roddy soars effortlessly through the track. Gorgeous.

As the rest of the band stroll onto the stage after, the atmosphere totally contrasts as we are rocked into "I’m a message". Now nearly just a vibration, it builds up and up, and the ballroom pulsates with sound.

Idlewild are annoyingly misread by many. Seen as "soft wimps" (mainly by people that only know their most successful track "When I argue I...") they seem to take pride in calling them "rock weaklings". Tonight there was no way Idlewild could be seen as "soft", or as "wimps". Rock Gods was much more where it was at. Bob and Rod constantly jumped up and down, Roddy trashed his mike stand, and a guy I went with who was dragged along unwillingly by his girlfriend said to me "This amount of moshing was like Slipknot!" So dust away any shadows of doubt you may have about Idlewild being "soft" or "wimps" now! It’s not true!

Idlewild were fantastic live, and their is no doubt that Roddy & Co. deserve all the success they get. You totally rocked our world that night, and will again I’m very sure!