Live Review

Idlewild – Glasgow Barrowlands

• 24th Oct 2007

The excitement was almost visible in the air of the Barrowlands as devoted fans, old and new, filtered into the main hall to see one of Scotland’s most successful rock acts. The band causing such a stir tonight is Idlewild, who recently celebrated their twelfth year together with the release of greatest hits album, ‘Scottish Fiction’.

Donning a black leather jacket and tight blue t-shirt, frontman Roddy Woomble appears on-stage to rapturous clapping and screaming, while the following band members immediately launch into ‘When I Argue I See Shapes’.
Idlewild send the crowd into a frenzy with their early career hit and they themselves look like they are enjoying their eighth time on the Barrowlands stage – The early signs suggest this is going to be a gig to remember.

Next up is the classic and instant crowd pleaser ‘You held the World In Your Arms’ which continues to make fans lose control. Half way through the song Roddy slinks out of his leather jacket, much to the approval of a female fan in front who starts shrieking with delight.

As purple lights engulf the audience, Roddy swaggers from one side of the stage to the other, peaking out from behind the amps and prompting the elated crowd to clap.
‘Love Steals Us from Loneliness’ sounds superb with velvety but strong vocals and blinding clean-cut instrumentals. Following that is ‘Modern Way of Letting Go’ which is another gig highlight, with the frenzied guitar intro and fast pace throughout.
After finishing an energetic and rocking rendition of ‘No Emotion’, a smiling Roddy informs the audience: “You could have gone and seen Editors tonight”. The audience reply with a chorus of surround-sound “boos” to which the frontman smirks, “exactly”.

Gig wise, this was definitely a show for those into Idlewild’s older material, with the majority of the set descending from 2000’s ‘100 Broken Windows’ and 2005 album ‘Warnings/ Promises’. There are some tracks from newer record ‘Make Another World’ however it was the older songs which went down a storm.

For the encore, the band turned the clock way back once again with one of their first ever singles, ‘Queen of the Troubled Teens’. This makes the crowd go wild yet again with its punky, grungy edges and is a nice contrast to what is about to come next.
As the night comes to a close the mood is softened with the light guitar intro of ‘The Remote Part’, a poignant song that rounds off an emotional roller coaster of a gig.

More than a decade of writing and performing, Idlewild sound as fresh as ever and as tonight proved, they are still immense live.