Review: Idles, the Downs: ‘A triumphant homecoming gig’

“We write our songs to play live,” said Idles lead singer Joe Talbot close to the sea walls on the Downs on Friday evening.

“It feels fucking good to do it how it was meant with you.”

He may have been standing on a stage with the words ‘Love Saves’ above it, but this was a day very much about Idles playing their biggest ever headline gig.

The Bristol five-piece and their assembled support acts performed on three stages that over the weekend will be the site of the Love Saves the Day festival.

“We are supposed to be here and you are supposed to be here. It’s a magic thing, thank you so much.”

Playing in front of a field of adoring fans in their home city, this was a triumphant homecoming gig. How do you like that cliché?

Joe Talbot of Idles during their biggest ever headline show – photo: Colin Moody

“This is the best city in the world,” said Talbot, dressed all in black. “It’s not that great but the people make it the best city in the world.”

Playing to those people – some of who were sat in a Ferris wheel, helter-skelter and chairoplanes – was an emotional moment for Talbot and the rest of the band, who had given 2,000 free tickets to NHS workers for this gig.

“Thank you very much for sticking around, Bristol,” he said with complete sincerity.

This was the biggest event to take place in Bristol since March 2020 and the events of the last 18 months were never far away.

Beginning at high velocity with War, it was a gig permanently turned up to 11, which saw crowdsurfing, a moshpit and beers thrown into the air, but no Danny Nedalko (although Danny Nedalko did appear earlier in the day with his band, Heavy Lungs).

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For most Idles fans – other than those lucky enough to have squeezed inside the Louisiana for two special warmup shows last week – this was the first chance to hear songs from new album, Ultra Mono, live.

For Model Village, Talbot asked for the lights to be turned up so he could read the lyrics.

“This song may be misconstrued as an aggro song about villages. It’s not. It’s a metaphor about England.”

Raising his can of Guinness 0.0 and giving shout-outs to the likes of Heavy Lungs, Anna Meredith and Giant Swan on before them, Talbot thanked the crowd “for making us to feel safe and express ourselves in this field”.

The crowd got low for Scum as Talbot spoke into the microphone almost in a whisper, before a brief singalong of Wonderwall led by Mark Bowen.

That was not the only cover, with the penultimate song, Love Song, morphing into everything from Nothing Compares 2U by Sinead O’Connor, All I Want for Christmas is You by Mariah Carey and Linger by the Cranberries.

There was a shout-out to Liam the roadie (“he’s been part of our family for a long time”) before the final song, Danke, and no encore. Thank you, Idles, for bringing a collective sense of camaraderie to the Downs.

Idles came on stage at 9.30pm on Friday night but the live music began at 3.15pm – photo: Colin Moody

Young and old enjoyed Friday’s day of live music on the Downs – photo: Colin Moody

Grove on the Centre Stage – photo: Colin Moody

Idles’ biggest ever headlining gig was the culmination of an afternoon and evening of music across three stages, which on Saturday and Sunday will be the site of Loves Saves the Day.

Opening the main stage, black feminist punk band Big Joanie played much of their acclaimed album Sistahs. A glorious mix of conscious, intersectional feminist lyricism and Breeders/Sonic Youth post-punk scratchy tuneage grabbing the crowd’s attention from the start and not letting up.

As they finished their set, Kayla Painter’s complex clever looped and sampled electronic dancescapes drifted across the site interspersed with punk pulses from the Paradiso stage and Slagheap’s seemingly improvised lyrics akin to those created by small children on a sugar high. So far so eclectic.

Following Kayla Painter, Nuha Ruby Ra took the Centre Stage audience by the scruff of the neck and shook them into life, as she eventually moved into and around them. The blue-haired uncompromising Nuha Ruby Ra is one to see in a dark, club at midnight. Her music could by-turn soundtrack the apocalypse or fill a dance floor in a heartbeat.

Jane Weaver on the main stage has crossed over from alt-folk to electro-folk to electro-dance pop and is a current darling of BBC Radio 6 Music. Pitch perfect vocals and bang on tunes from a tight-as band, perfect for a sunny late afternoon, once something of a cult artist, her crossover to a wider audience is well deserved.

Over on the Paradiso stage, Delilah Holliday turned in an immaculate performance. Smart yet understated beats and tunes and superb jazz-soul vocals, sometimes menacing, sometimes warm and enfolding, a new, sublime talent who deserves to be on bigger stages and soon.

Bristol electronica wizards Giant Swan lived up to their reputation as one of the acts to see on the day. Rock hard techno and electro melded with noise rock pulled a big crowd of dance heads of all ages at the Central stage waiting for the big drops and going nuts every time.

Rave with big tunes is alive and thriving, part of an eclectic collection of warmup acts ahead of the triumphant outdoor return of Idles to their home city.

Main photo: Colin Moody

Read more: Idles play two sell-out homecoming gigs at the Louisiana

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