Idlewild - Macadam Building,London University, 12/3/2002

  by Anthony Strutt

published: 10 / 4 / 2002

intro

In the second our two Idlewild live reviews this month, Anthony trutt watches the band struggle with a dodgy PA at London University

The Macadam Building overlooks the Thames, and sitting in the post gig bar, drinking a pint of lager that only cost me £1.60 a pint, I was in heaven. Upstairs to the gig paying punters, they increased this to £2. Idlewild have not played anywhere in the UK for over a year now, so the hungry, young audience were definitely up for a good show, but sadly the college's PA wasn't. The sound started developing problems during the second song. The band played well considering this, but the equipment wasn't up to scratch and it was only when the band played the final number in a shortened set , replacing 'Discourage' with 'Captain' , that they finally got into their stride. The young crowd, however, saw their favourite band, jumped up and down and got rid of their frustrations, while us old farts were simply disappointed. The generation gap gets wider. The few new songs they offered us sounded great and the singles are simply great pop tracks, but this new band can grunge out in true hardcore style when they want to as well. In playing everything from melodic dirges to REM epic style pop, they remain essentially wild young scallies at heart.

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