Idles played Forest Hills Stadium

Idles played their largest headlining New York City to date with support from the city's own The Walkmen.

There are few more New York feelings than walking into a place and hearing a theme song and for those who were coming up during the now described Meet Me in the Bathroom-era "The Rat" by the Walkmen is an anthem of the time. As the machine-gun style drum beat blasted away, Hamilton Leithauser's vicious howl got the crown pumped and it felt like the most supreme welcome for a night of great rock and roll. Even though I missed the majority of their set, hearing this was a great way to get pumped and getting to witness them close with the divine "Heaven" was a real treat. "When we put out this album, there was a press release that just called the new album 'heave' so, uh, here's 'HEAVE,'" Hamilton told the crowd as the band carried on with the charming and balmy number. It was a brief encounter with a great band but immediately pumped up the mood and set the stage for what was to come.

As Idles entered the stage with a blood red screen behind them, they started with the slow-burning "IDEA 01" from their most recent album TANGK and eased into the night with its synth driven, droning sound before they laid into the night with a towering version of "Colossus." For the next two hours the band delivered their hard hitting sound of post-punk that has been injected with a bit of hardcore and dance elements. Their growl inflicted upon the crowd just as the guitarist jumped into the pit to be one with the fans. There was a call and response throughout the night and it was clear just how much the band was feeding off the energy of the crowd and how everyone in the building was eating up whatever the band was serving. The chaotic positivity that the band distills so well came through in flying colors and sent the night into a frenzy as they told the crowd to split in half before bringing the pit back together in rambunctious form. The band were lethal in their chants of "FUCK THE KING" which an American crowd so easily jumped in on and their calls for a Free Palestine were also met with rousing cheers. Even though their newer songs have a bit less energy than one would expect, they rightly played so many classics that had the crowd going crazy and the band unable to resist on joining in on the fun. For "Samaritans," they found a kid in the crowd who claimed he could play drums and after they announced "well this could really go one of two ways," the audience was in shock as the kid named Ash blasted away and nailed the song, giving it extra life as everyone got behind him and chanted his name, making a young person's dream come true in crystallized fashion. "Never Fight a Man with a Perm" and "Danny Nedelko" (the later of which was dedicated to the immigrants who built and keep the country going) were the real highlights of the night and had the crowd going bonkers as the rush of energy began to climax. Still, the unexpected cover of Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas" was a fun surprise and helped bring the night to an end as they ripped into "Rottweiler" to bring things to a close. The emphatic positivity and enlightened chaos was brilliant and made for one hell of a night.