Photo: Dafydd Owen
'A flight of stairs falling down a flight of stairs' - the now immortal words of a review of Idlewild in their early days of raucous, youthful, punk exuberance. The shambles soon matured into something far more opulent. They found themselves all over the airwaves and finally threatening to becoming the arena band they'd always threatened to be - then the tides of culture turned against them, and through no fault of their own, they found themselves in the wilderness.
But in 2015, they returned to the fray with Everything Ever Written - not only one of the finest and most surprising albums of the year, but one of Idlewild's most complete and well-rounded pieces of work. It captured the rock-heavy fire of their earlier work, but was anchored in enough soulful poetry and elegiac folk tenderness to make it sound like a band living very much in the now, rather than lean on parody and nostalgia.
Tonight's show reflects that same balance - split into two halves with an acoustic set before going electric.
Opening with the shanty sway of 'So Many Things To Decide' shows a band so comfortable in their own skin, before emphasising that further by stripping back 'These Wooden Ideas' to expose the brilliant idiosyncrasies that have always rested at the core of Idlewild. There's not a dry-eye in the house as 'Scottish Fiction' and 'American English' ache with more beauty than ever, when you realise that there's been no act since Idlewild who make 'em like this.
Watch our interview with Idlewild below
The electric set would have been the perfect opportunity to just rattle through the classics to appease the old faithful. They do that, but in the likes of 'Collect Yourself', 'Come On Ghost' and 'Utopia', their newer material sounds every bit as essential and neccessary as 'Little Discourage' and 'Roseability'.
There was a time in 2005 when 'Love Steals Us From Loneliness', 'I Understand It' or 'El Capitan' may have been met with disdain from fans expecting Roddy Woomble to instead be rolling around on his face, screaming into the floor. But absence makes the heart grow fonder, and time away has let these numbers bloom into classics in their catalogue. It's refreshing to see, but the true highlight comes in the explosive peak of 'A Film For The Future' flowing straight into 'Captain'. We'll be sore for weeks.
'A Modern Way Of Letting Go' still bristles with that rollocking post-Millenial anxiety, and we're still baffled as to why closer 'You Held The World In Your Arms' isn't down in history as one of the greatest rock singles of all time - its calibre surely ranks them alongside the likes of Depeche Mode and U2. Alas, the stadiums may not be beckoning, but what we have today is the full picture of Idlewild, and it's a treasure to behold. To us, that's enough.
Idlewild played:
ACOUSTIC
So Many Things To Decide
These Wooden Ideas
Younger Than America
The Bronze Medal
All Things Different
In Remote Part / Scottish Fiction
American English
ELECTRIC
Collect Yourself
Little Discourage
Love Steals Us From Loneliness
Come on Ghost
Live in a Hiding Place
Left Like Roses
I Understand It
Make Another World
Roseability
(Use It) If You Can Use It
El Capitan
Idea Track
A Film for the Future
Captain
When I Argue I See Shapes
Utopia
ENCORE
Too Long Awake
I'm a Message
A Modern Way of Letting Go
You Held the World in Your Arms
