Idlewild / Now it's Overhead

Leeds Metropolitan University on Sun 18th Mar 2007

The band names get more elaborate these days. It’s a shame the music they produce doesn’t. Now it’s Overhead are very dull to watch and listen to. I can not wait for them to finish. Some band members look like they need to spread their wings and escape the droll existence in this band from Georgia, US. They have the energy, and want to jump about to their music, but look weighed down by the bored notes. The singer can not sing very well either; the long notes just not quite getting there.

Now it's Overhead

Idlewild are here to rock. The stage is illuminated with beams of pastel lights, which flow above singer Roddy Woomble and Co’s heads. They have a hint of Blur and the indie-pop of the early nineties about them, but are a lot heavier in delivery. Also the melodic structure to the songs has many an influence of R.E.M.

Woomble is a skinny soul, though his Scottish accent is alluring, as he wanders over the stage and his band mates duck and dive on the monitors. ‘Little Discourage’ is a great choice to start with; to get the crowd into the mood.

There is not a lot of crowdsurfing, just the odd one or two, but the amount of beer cups flying about is large for the butter-wouldn’t-melt look of the audience. I was hit three times, after I had moved three times out of the way! To stand at the back and watch the plastic bounce off of someone’s head, usually emptying the contents onto their barnet, is funny. And I can laugh ‘cos it happened to me.

Idlewild

Plenty of new tracks from the brand new album are being played, and they fit seamlessly in with the older tunes. ‘Make Another World’, the title track,‘Future Works’, ‘Once In Your Life’ and ‘In Competition For The Worst Time’(starting the two-song encore off) sit amongst ‘A Modern Way of Letting Go’, ‘These Wooden Ideas’ and my choice of the night ‘Live In A Hiding Place’ perfectly.

I am not a fan of Idlewild; I remember them supporting Ash in 1998. They were ok then but nothing special; I wasn’t desperate to see them again. After tonight’s show; with the energy they put in and the obvious fun they are having, makes me want to catch up again with them another time.

Set List:

Little Discourage
No Emotion
Make Another World
If It Takes You Home
Love Steals Us from Loneliness
American English
Roseability
I'm Happy to Be Here Tonight
A Modern Way of Letting Go
Once In Your Life
These Wooden Ideas
Live In A Hiding Place
Future Works
When I Argue I See Shapes
El Capitan
Everything (As It Moves)
In Remote Part/Scottish Fiction

In Competition For The Worst Time
(I Am) What I Am Not

article by: Danielle Millea

photos by: Danielle Millea

published: 22/03/2007 17:54



FUTURE GIGS


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