Ehud Lazin

Idles at Forest Hills Stadium / September 27, 2024

October 9, 2024

If these days are to become the new Roaring Twenties, Idles may become the music industry’s primary catalyst. Neighbors have pursued court action against Forest Hills Stadium due to the alleged unbecoming behavior of the attendees coming and going from the 13,000-capacity outdoor venue; if only the neighbors knew how wild the musicians and the fans were inside the Idles concert! This was nearly the end of Idles’ North American tour, and the British band seemed intent on not leaving New York City with a whimper.

At the stadium, Idles played abrasive music that spit anger and ignited numerous highly aggressive mosh pits. The innovative rock quartet’s performance started quietly with the brooding drone of “Idea 01,” the first track on the band’s fifth and most recent studio album, Tangk. It was the quiet before the storm. Upon the conclusion of the brief introductory song, vocalist Joe Talbot asked the audience standing on the stadium floor to divide and create an empty corridor along the middle all the way back.

“Are you ready to collide?” Talbot asked, pausing for the audience’s enthusiastic response. “Are you ready to love?” he segued, puzzlingly. He then cried “Viva Palestina!” and the band tore into fan-favorite “Colossus” as the two sides of the wall of death collided into each other. Upwards of a hundred moshing fans sustained the intensity of the brutal impact, even as guitarist Lee Kiernan stopped headbanging long enough to leap into the audience and ride atop the crowd while playing his leads.

Idles formed as a punk rock band in 2009 in Bristol, England. Eight years later, the band released its debut album and began building an international audience. The Love Is the Fing tour promoted Tangk, which the band released on February 16. Idles presently consists of Talbot, guitarists Mark Bowen and Lee Kiernan, bassist Adam Devonshire, and drummer Jon Beavis.

Idles’ albums are a study in post-punk creativity, with Talbot’s almost-spoken singing seemingly bringing a lighthouse to underlying currents of turbulence. Nevertheless, the stage was where the band became a blazing fireball of force and potency. At Forest Hills Stadium, Idles crushed a ferocious two-hour set comprised of six new songs plus 18 songs from earlier albums.

Live, Talbot was a magnet, as he paced the stage animalistically, crouching at times with his arms up like he was about to pounce. His riveting, masculine voice was passionate, alternately articulating angst and rage. The band’s unpolished punch and assertive delivery, provided by two screaming lead guitars and a bottom-heavy rhythm section, amplified the potency of the songs. The combination was invigorating to the widely moshing and crowd-surfing sea of fans.

Talbot also demonstrated that he had heart. Between songs, he endearingly conveyed to the audience several encouraging messages of hope and victory over the adversities of life. He invited onto the stage a young fan named Ash, whom he had met earlier that day, to play drums on “Samaritan.” Later, Talbot disclosed that at a very dark period in his life, someone gave him the Walkmen’s Bow + Arrows album and it helped set him straight, and so he was honored to have the reunited Walkmen open the concert.

Idles’ concert at Forest Hills Stadium closed another circle as well. The band first performed there in 2022 as the support act for LCD Soundsystem. Two years later, Idles returned as a headliner. While the stadium was far from full – the upper bowl was little more than half full, despite the plentiful distribution of free tickets to contest winners – the magnitude of the performance’s intensity was an omen that this band will be huge someday soon.