idles soma san diego

Idles shredded Soma San Diego

It’s hard to play music live for an hour and a half, it’s even harder to do what Idles do for an hour and a half. It was a triumphant return to San Diego for the Bristol four-piece who has now visited San Diego for each of their last three album-supporting tours. In 2018 they played the North Park Observatory supporting Joy as an Act of Resistance and in 2019 they graced Solana Beach’s Belly Up Tavern supporting Ultra Mono. While this set of Soma was first and foremost a celebration of their November 2021 LP Crawler, it also felt like a triumphant wrapping up of IDLES “San Diego trilogy” playing a setlist that spanned the five years, three-album stretch.

After starting with the staple show opener “Colossus,” it was on to the hip hop influenced “Car Crash,” followed by cheeky fan-favorite “Mr. Motivator.” With the help of stagehands and pre-tuned instruments, Idles were able to fly through their setlist, squeezing 20 tracks into a previously mentioned 90 minutes. This also included a ten-minute version of Love Song that featured guitarist Lee Kiernan making his way around the crowded venue and guitarist Mark Bowen and vocalist Joe Talbot doing improvisational sing-a-long r&b karaoke.

If this is the end of the San Diego Idles saga, it was an amazing sendoff… but I definitely don’t think we’ve seen the last of these chums. All is love.

Review by: Michael Brogan