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| I D L E W I L D The Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh Friday 03.05.02 Idlewild arrived on stage with acres of pine forests being projected behind them, and opened with the furiously aggressive ‘Captain’, which certainly got the crowd going! Frontman Roddy Woomble declared to the crowd – “This must be what its like to be on trial.” Due to the courtroom layout of the hall. This being the last night of the tour, we knew that we would be in for an energetic show. After all they were playing to their hometown, which made them perform 110%. We were not disappointed in the slightest with old favourites like ‘I am a message’, ‘When I argue I see shapes’ from Hope is Important and newer songs ‘Little discourage’, ‘These wooden ideas’, ‘Roseability’ and ‘Idea track’ taken from 100 Broken Windows. We were also given a touching acoustic rendition of ‘I’m happy to be here tonight’ which showed off Roddy’s beautiful harmonious voice. Charismatic Roddy is an eminently watchable frontman. His stage presence is unbelievable and he finally has those mysterious and bizarre hand movements down to an art! Although still tends to hide his face in the microphone stand now and then. He came into the crowd half way though and received a groping from his female fans who just wouldn’t let go!!! Understandable of course! Bassist Bob Fairfoull was giving everything he had, as usual, and occasionally looked like he might hurt himself! We could seldom see him past his beard and ruthless hair! Colin Newton was drumming by reflex and guitarist Rod Jones kept bashing out the tunes! Someone next to me shouted to Roddy for his bottle of water. Throwing aimlessly into the crowd, unaware that the lid was off, the first few rows were drenched with water! Even though I was glad for a cool down he quickly apologised to us all! They played several tracks from the new album ‘The Remote Part’ which is due out in June and has a similar sound to ‘100 Broken Windows’. These included ‘American English’, ‘I Am What I Am Not’ and ‘In Remote part/Scottish Fiction’ which has Scottish poet Edwin Morgan reciting spoken word dialogue near the end. I think Morgan was the influence behind the projection of ‘SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL POET’ which was frequently on the screen behind. The powerful melodies of the new songs blew me away and would literally make the opposition weep with envy. These genuinely beautiful songs have got to be the secret of their success. The band gave an encore, which included ‘Listen to what you’ve got’, ‘I Found That Essence Rare’ (Gang of Four cover) and’ Film for the Future’. The gig was filled with so much energy. The physical exertion induced on my body was unbearable at times and countless kicking crowd surfers flying overhead were not an asset to the gig! But at least a good night seemed to be had by all. Idlewild are undoubtedly the best live band in the country and this has to be the most memorable and exciting gigs I have ever seen, even if I am still painfully recovering!!! It was worth every second and I can’t wait for the new album!!! author unknown. |