IDLES Show Us What Punk Guys Should Be at Royale

Photography by Owen Murray

by Owen Murray

IDLES knows the shortcomings of punk rock. As a bunch of muscly white dudes from the UK, they run the risk of falling in with the genre’s unfortunate boys-club history. Instead of being another group of hardcore dude-bros, Joe Talbot and co. are determined to set an example of what men in punk could and should be. 

Dudes with Pantera t-shirts and beards joined kids with pink hair and they/them/theirs pins in the crowd. Only IDLES could have brought this diverse range of punks together and have them screaming, “I’ll put homophobes in coffins!” in the show’s first few minutes. IDLES’ message of inclusion and community had never been clearer: “You are unimportant,” Tabot said in his unmistakable snarl, contrasting sharply with his pink hair the band’s floral backdrop. “Together we mean something.”

This spirit was established with the first words Tabot said on stage: “Watch out for one another,” he said as the band geared up to open with “Colossus,” a two-part song practically designed to open up a pit to. The band extended its slow intro, with Talbot teasing the eager crowd by raising the microphone to his mouth, only to lower it a second later. Once they got going, the suspense and energy soared and stayed soaring for the entire night. 

As if their message wasn’t clear enough in their music, Talbot spoke to the crowd between nearly every song. If he weren’t so passionate and earnest, it might have been over the top, but his righteous anger and consciousness resonated powerfully. 

“This, like all our fucking songs, is a FEMINIST SONG,” Talbot growled before “Mother.” “Long live socialism!” he screamed after “Divide and Conquer,” a song he dedicated to the UK healthcare system and healthcare workers everywhere. In a particularly poignant moment, he responded to a fan’s “Fuck Columbus” remark by shifting the focus to constructive action: “Instead of breaking down walls, let’s build communities and climb right over.” 

To strengthen the theme of togetherness and the spirit of recklessness, guitarists Mark Bowen and Lee Kieran both spent time diving into the crowd with their guitars and playing in the mosh pit. It felt like an act of trust; their well-being—and their instruments’ well-being—was largely in the hands of over-excited fans, after all. By the time they were in the crowd, everyone in the room was already comrades. 

IDLES left the stage without an encore, but the show felt complete. It was as if they were doing away with the formality of the silence before the encore, rather than just refusing to come back on stage. 

Through all of their anger, IDLES remains unwaveringly optimistic. Racism, misogyny, fascism, and toxic masculinity all need to be destroyed, but we can build around and over them. While punk shows often have you feeling ready to punch a wall out of crude anger, IDLES makes you feel confident and uplifted. Even though their music hits with blunt force, their message of fighting hate and oppression with love and organization is carefully calculated. There truly isn’t a band around today that is more sure of their purpose than IDLES.