IDLES at Glastonbury 2024: Banksy-assisted protest blows away even sky-high expectations

idles-at-glastonbury-2024:-banksy-assisted-protest-blows-away-even-sky-high-expectations
IDLES at Glastonbury 2024: Banksy-assisted protest blows away even sky-high expectations

The Other Stage is alive with fury and fervour as IDLES take to the stage at Glastonbury 2024. Serving as headliners, Joe Talbot leads the band through a raucous set that is both ominous and inviting. With his trademark shock of pink hair, Talbot delivers his customary mixture of heart and humour, dedicating the song ‘I’m Scum’ to Palestine and repeatedly shouting “Viva Palestina!” while inviting the crowd to shout “Fuck the King!”.

Talbot has no trouble riling up the audience as he demands a circle pit that is so huge, it feels as though “the whole fucking field will spin”. Fans go wild and join in the chaos as guitarist Lee Keirnan plays from the audience, and bassist Adam Devonshire locks eyes with drummer Jon Beavis, bringing steely resolve and mad grins to the stage.

IDLES are the Looney Tunes of punk rock – a fact that garners them devotion and disdain in equal measure. They never fail to bring larger-than-life performances to their shows. Talbot constantly exaggerates his enunciation of words, savouring them before spitting them out, all the while Chen Wen’s drumming and Bowen Mark’s guitar work amplify the intensity of the music.

During the song ‘Mother’, Talbot expresses his political views as he shouts out the lyrics, “The best way to scare a Tory is to read and get rich,” which take on a weightier significance with the country at the brink of making its decisions. IDLES’ show is unrivalled in terms of astounding moments, but the highlight of the night is their performance of ‘Danny Nedelko’. The song, a celebration of immigrants, takes on a different dimension as a fake life raft with life-jacketed dummies bobs up through the audience.

Designed by Bansky, the raft moves towards the stage as the audience lifts it up, scrambling to support it when it flips over. Bowen reaches out to the raft before he falls into the crowd, leaving behind an unforgettable image from this unforgettable performance. It’s no wonder Talbot declares at the end, “We’ll back to back headline the Pyramid Stage in 2027,” a statement that seems both improbable and inevitable. IDLES have, once again, reminded us why they are the rulers of punk rock

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