Hot on the heels of the Australian leg of their world tour, Idles recently descended on Dr Martens Boot Room ahead of their sold out show at London’s Electric Ballroom.
The 60 person capacity gig venue nestled in Dr Martens’ Camden store was packed tight for a high energy show that saw the Bristol band take to the stage with tracks from their latest album Joy As An Act Of Resistance.
The atmosphere that filled the room made it clear to see why BBC 6 Music voted this album Best Album Of The Year 2018.
Lead Singer, Joe Talbolt walked along the stage between songs to speak about everything from Theresa May to middle-class privilege and chocolate oranges.
Audience participation was the theme of the evening with guitarist Lee Kiernan hopping into the crowd to pass his guitar onto a fan while another crowd surfed toward the tiny stage.
All recordings were barred when the band debuted a new unreleased song to the crowd before finishing the show with Danny Nedelko.
The show ended with bassist and lead guitarist, Adam Devonshire and Mark Bowen, jamming while the rest exited stage left.
The band will round up their 49 date world tour on the 11th July in Dublin.
Why we love Dr Martens
We’re not normally ones to play favourites, but when it comes to boots, no-one does it better than Dr. Martens.
For those of you who’ve never heard the Dr. Martens story; it’s that classic tale of boy meets girl, boy injures foot in skiing accident, boy can no longer wear standard issue army boots, boy invents “air-cushioned” sole, boy sells patent to British shoemakers, British shoemakers discover boy is called Dr. Klaus Maertens and create a boot in his name.
The Dr. Marten boot was adorned with its classic yellow stitching and iconic AirWair tag and became a sure-fire hit with the police, builders and traffic wardens… What, that wasn’t the ending you were expecting? It’s true though.
It’s probably safe to say their sturdiness, durability and oil resistance was probably not what made them an icon of alternative style and the weapon of choice for mods, skinheads, goths, punks, grungers, indie kids and basically every other sub-culture over the last 60 years.
But 60 years is a long time and the challenge of staying cool and relevant is something that’s dogged many a maroon haired rockstar; it seems the trick is to keep ripping it up and starting again.
Right now, no-one is delivering the goods time and time again like these guys. Check out the latest Dr Martens shoes and boots here.
