 | | Idlewild |
From the moment they launched headlong into the opening Roseability, it was clear that the slight break they’ve had to pursue solo projects has done them nothing but good. Woomble’s live voice has improved as a result of the minutia of folk, while to his right, Rod Jones is a reinvigorated whirlwind on guitar, leaping around a stage that would barely contain him and clambering all over the drum stack. "We always seem to play Manchester on a Saturday," smiled Roddy, so presumably the rowdy singalongs that accompanied all of the tunes, including the new ones – which show a marked return to their early sound - would have come as no surprise. Despite teething problems with the technical side of things, the five piece delivered a set worthy of such rambunctiousness. Be it epics like American English, spiky wonders like When I Argue I See Shapes, throwabouts like A Modern Way Of Letting Go or the closing beauty of Remote Part, everything is delivered with passion and power. A brief return sees the bedlam of I Am What I Am Not sweat out the last of those down the front, before in a typically Idlewild move, Roddy introduces "a quiet song", the poignancy of The Bronze Medal, to close. While this was an intentionally intimate affair, it’s a wonder why the band aren’t playing on the same level as the likes of Snow Patrol, given their talent for emotional and impassioned music, but that’s something for someone else to worry about. As they put it themselves early in the set in the wonderful Love Steals Us From Loneliness, I'd rather have hope than sadness. | 
