There’s a moment just before IDLES close the Main Stage on Saturday night where it feels like the crowd might already be spent. Whether disastrously dehydrated, delicately protecting sunburnt skin, or nursing aches and injuries from the tidal swell of mosh carnage across the weekend, absolutely no punter is still running anywhere close to 100 per cent. But then the Bristolians’ aptly-titled opener Colossus drops like a fucking bomb and we realise, thrillingly, that the peak of 2000trees is yet to come.
Car Crash. Mr Motivator. Grounds. Mother. Never Fight A Man With A Perm. It’s a setlist for the ages pulled from the here and now, and the sense of unhinged anger and righteous purpose onstage – with guitarist Lee Kiernan somehow going even harder than his bandmates in a full-length dress – is surpassed only by the bedlam out in the crowd. Divide And Conquer feels like it might bludgeon open a chasm in the scorched earth. Crawl! summons a throat-ripping sing-along. The point in I’m Scum where several crowdsurfers spill into an open circle-pit is lost in a far-wider landscape of chaos.
“This is as close to home as we’re gonna play for a long time,” announces frontman Joe Talbot, with a touch of sentimentality momentarily cooling the fire that overflows from his belly. “It’s an honour and a privilege to be here, playing with bands who are open to new ideas and new people! It’s is the best feeling in the world: that sense of letting go and giving you everything, then getting back that beautiful gift of your energy.” Then they floor it again for a 100mph Danny Nedelko and juggernaut closer Rottweiler, and we’re reminded, really, that the pleasure is all ours. Incredible. (SL)