| Idlewild - Denver, Bluebird Theatre Tuesday 25th March 2003 |
The problem is, of course, that no one has really heard of Idlewild in the USA, and this was their first trip to Denver. Which brings me to another strange thing that happens in this country – photo passes. Except for the very smallest venues, you need to have a photo pass to take photos of a band. Now I can understand this for the large venues, with security and stuff, but for these smaller venues I just don’t get it.
I had e-mailed the Capital Records press office in New York some weeks before enquiring about said pass, and the e-mail conversation went as follows…
Me: “I've been steered towards you by Vikki who manages the Idlewild website. I’m looking to see if it's possible to obtain a photo pass for the Denver show at the Bluebird on 25 March. Thanks.”
Agent: “Paul -- we need confirmed assignments for photo passes. Tell me if this is the case and thanks.”
Me: “Well I work for myself. I run a highly visited website that focuses on the live underground scene in both in the UK and in Denver. (Goes on to list all Idlewild photos and reviews on site). So my assignment is from myself... I also contribute photos for Skyscraper Magazine (USA), and have been published in The Sunday Times (UK), The Fly (UK), Legal Affiars Magazine (USA), various band websites, and various record sleeves.”
Agent: “Sorry Paul -- we have tons of requests from working press and I'd need an assignment besides your personal webpage, although I'm sure it's very nice.”
Bet he never even looked at it!
So on the day of the gig I was expecting security, hordes of photographers and barriers. What do I find? - One lowly photographer from the Denver Post who had never heard of the band. Now The Denver Post is hardly the cutting edge of the music scene here, and who knows if a photo or even a review will ever be published, so I guess you can see where I’m going here. (I won’t even go into the Glassjaw debacle a few weeks ago!)
Anyway back to the music... with the new lineup of added guitar by Allan Stuart and bass played by Gavin Fox, they are even tighter than before. Of course the strange thing about this gig was that it was like going back in time and watching them at the Oxford Point with about a quarter of the capacity! But this was nice – being up close (good for photos – grrrrrr!) and playing their latest tunes. They played a range of songs from all their albums, the oldest being ‘You Just Have To Be Who You Are’ from ‘Captain’ through ‘Film For The Future’ to the more obvious newer stuff.
Rod still jumps up and down and staggers around the stage when he’s not on second vocal duties, and Roddy still clings and staggers around with the mic’ stand like a drunk. The two new guys are pretty static (it was always good to see Bob jumping around and falling over), but the twin guitars of Rod and Allan work very well and are really effective.
A very enjoyable show all in all, and good to see the boys haven’t lost any of their edge over the years. A few more trips here and I’m sure they will break through in the same way they have in the UK.
skippy
