IDLES - Cardiff Castle, 12th July 2024
Image by Tom Ham
It’s getting a bit silly now. Why aren’t IDLES headlining every festival this summer?
Yes OK, the Bristol-based band were atop the Other Stage a fortnight ago, a huge step up from their afternoon set on the same stage two years earlier.
Yet their 2024 performance was a tour de force; well-judged in execution, pace and emotion, as they’ve been doing for years. They are ready. Their time is very much now.
Equally, their headline set in Cardiff was a masterclass. Rather than hit the ground running (a pace otherwise relentlessly maintained throughout the rest of the set) the pensive ‘IDEA 01’, with subtle bass and – yes – Kid A anxiety is a mood setter.
As are the first three minutes of ‘Colossus’, slowly ratcheting up the anticipation and excitement before an explosion of rock music in its second half, like a shaken-up bottle of Coke which must – needs – to relieve its pressure.