IDLES Block Party / Queen Square / Bristol

Back in early June, we brought you the news that Bristol’s very own IDLES would be hosting a weekend festival in the heart of the city in Queen Square. The Block Party was planned for Friday 1st and Saturday 2ndAugust. IDLES are a personal favourite and this was a show I did not want to miss.

Luckily for me, I would head to our Bristol office to work so getting there was no problem, the bad news was, I was in Newport on the Saturday for the first EFL League Two game of the season for Notts County at Rodney Parade.

Although disappointed I couldn’t attend the whole event, when I looked at the line ups, I was very excited. The Friday night had just three main bands playing, but boy oh boy….. what a line up ! I was very very excited and the weekend couldn’t come quick enough.

I took the short walk from the office close to Temple Mead, to Queen Square and collected my accreditation from the box office ready for doors at 5pm. Queen Square is a beautiful tree lined square of old Edwardian houses, something straight out of an episode of Sherlock (and it has been used for film production previously). The main square was fenced off, the walls covered in ‘AF’ gang posters, the official fan club. In the centre of the square is a stunning statue of William III on horseback erected in 1733. The sounddesk and lighting/film booth was carefully positioned just in front of the statue, with the main stage in one corner of the park.

All round the edges of the square, there were some incredible street food sellers, bars and toilets. The large trees all round closed off the event space and made it strangely isolated, in the beating heart of one of the countries major cities.

The sun was out, the food was incredible and the cool beer and cidar refreshing…. This had all the makings of a great night.

Just to the side of the main stage, was a smaller elevated DJ stage. As soon as the gates opened, we enjoyed a DJ set from MrSteveBob until the first band took to the stage, and then between the bands, we had sets from Sicaria, who is Lou Nour, who seeks to carry forth the legacy of successful predecessor Sicaria Sound, in which she performed alongside Sancha Ndeko.

After Sicaria’s first DJ set, before the first band hit the stage at 6pm, the Lambrini Girls, all the members of all three bands walked out together in a line, banging pads with spoons. Mixed together and lined up, Mark Bowen from IDLES delivered an impassioned speech about the horrific genocide and humanitarian crisis in Gaza to huge roars from the Bristol crowd.

I had seen the Lamrini Girls before, back in late 2023 at the Foundary in Sheffield along with Bonnacons of Doom, supporting Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs on their UK tour. The Lambrini Girls blew me away with their set, performing most of the time in the middle of the crowd. It was chaos…. And amazing.

From Brighton, the band currently consists of Phoebe Lunny and Selin Macieira-Boşgelmez. After releasing their debut single in 2021 and signing to Big Scary Monsters by November 2022, in May 2023 they released the EP “You're Welcome”, which received positive critical reception from music publications. They dropped their debut album “Who Let the Dogs Out” earlier this year which charted at No. 16 on the UK Albums Chart.

The Lambrini Girls did not disappoint, and delivered a short half hour set of pure raw power and emotion. Often controversial, it didn’t take long into the opening track Big Dick Energy and the crowd was bouncing. Phoebe is just a bundle of energy, in a bright green summer dress she was already down into the crowd in the second song God’s Country was already in the crowd. She cleared an area and squatted down low encouraging the crowd to do likewise before climbing back over the barrier as the crowd jumped up and went crazy.

Terf Wars (Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist) was aimed squarely at JK Rowling and others. For the sets finale, Phoebe and Selin are both at the front of the stage as they deliver a powerful rendition of the track Cuntology 101, to which the crowd eagerly join in the shouted chorus sections. Not sure how it went down in the posh flats around the Square, but in the heart of the mosh….. it was a riot.

Blistering, raw and edgy, the Lambrini Girls took girl power to the next level.

Setlist

Big Dick Energy

God's Country

Company Culture

Bad Apple

Love

Terf Wars

Cuntology 101

The crowd dissipated and grabbed some food and drink, enjoying a set from Sicaria as the stage was readied for Soft Play.

Soft Play took to the stage, a punk rock duo formed by Isaac Holman (lead vocals & drums) and Laurie Vincent (backing vocals, guitar & bass) from Royal Tunbridge Wells in 2012. Up until 2022 they were known as Slaves, when they changed their name due to their original name's unwanted connotations. They released 3 albums as Slaves and their debut Soft Play album “Heavy Jelly” in 2024.

This was my first time seeing Soft Play live and immediately they impressed me with the amount of noise that two people can make. Isaac stands behind a slimmed down drum kit and hammers the drums like there’s no tomorrow as he delivers some fierce vocals.

Laurie paces energetically round the stage the light glistening off his shattered mirrored electric guitar. They delivered an hour long set of 15 tracks, highlights being songs like Bin Juice Disaster and John Wick. It’s fast and furious punk of the finest kind, but also has a fun edge to it, such as Fuck the HiHat a short riot of a song.

Part way through Isaac descended into the crowd, wading deep into the throng, demanding they make some space around him. One crowd member performs a backflip to huge laughs and cheers. Isaac tells us a tale of walking home and coming across two girls fighting. He encourages all the ladies to come forward and form a female only pit around him. Extracting himself back onto the stage, they deliver the incredibly fast Girl Fight…… all seven seconds of it lol. Isaacs asks if they should play it again and as the cried died down they did it again.

Laurie jumps down off one of the huge speaker stacks in front of the stage and climbed the barrier to be hoisted aloft by the crowd. Just like the Lambrini Girls, Soft Play delivered a raw, chaotic punk set to which the crowd delivered back just as much energy back to the stage.

Wow – Soft Play did not disappoint, and I look forward to seeing them again.

Setlist

All Things

Mirror Muscles (Baby Dave cover)

Isaac Is Typing…

Bin Juice Disaster

Act Violently

Fuck the Hi-Hat

Sockets

Punk's Dead

Girl Fight

John Wick

Everything and Nothing

Heavy Jelly

Beauty Quest

The Hunter

With the sun finally starting to set, the temperature drops, which is refreshing for the crowd that have been non-stop and dripping with sweat and beer, but there’s no stopping them, the best is yet to come.

IDLES were formed in Bristol in 2009 and are Adam Devonshire (bass), Joe Talbot (vocals), Mark Bowen (guitar), Lee Kiernan (guitar), and Jon Beavis (drums). They played locally for years, and I can only imagine what it was like seeing them in the early days at the Louisiana, or the Exchange. Mad springs to mind lol. Tonight they are joined by Saxophonist Colin Webster on many of the songs.

They released their debut album “Brutalism” in 2017 to critical acclaim. Their second album “Joy as an Act of Resistance” (2018) before they achieved their first UK number one album “Ultra Mono” in 2020.

2021 saw the release of their fourth album “Crawler”, before their most recent album “TANGK” came out in 2024 again reaching number one. This year they’ve contributed a number of tracks to the soundtrack of Darren Arronofsky's latest feature film ‘Caught Stealing’.

Tonight…. Feels special, a home coming. Joe is up in the DJ booth, Jon is down in the crowd with his mum, it feels like home, like family. There’s a special feeling in the air.

Hitting the stage to a wall of sound from the Bristol crowd they waste no time in kicking things off with Colossus from 2018’s “Joy as an Act of Resistance”. Always popular with the faithful fans, it has the crowd whipped into a frenzy from the off. Performing on back to back nights, the set is a great and well balanced mix of popular tracks from right across their archive. Mr. Motivator from 2020’s “Ultra Mono” is a track you just cant stand still to, while Mother from their (still) stunning debut “Brutalism” has raw, fierce vocals that just need to be screamed along to. Lee is already over the barrier and being carried aloft above the crowd whilst still wringing the life out of his Fender guitar.

Car Crash is one of my favourite IDLES tracks and one you wouldn’t think would work live, being slower and drawn out, but its unsettling and unusual tonal quality seems to just drip emotion off every note.

Fan favourite I’m Scum has become something of an anthem for IDLES fans, and spectacular. There’s nothing like thousands of people all at once chanting ‘Im Scum’ at once. The hits keep coming with The Wheel, POP POP POP and the majestic The Beachland Ballroom all going down a treat. Joe Talbot grins at the crowd and swings his mic around around his head, as guitarists Lee and Bowen climb into the crowd at every chance they get. Jon Beavis as always is a brick at the back on the drums, pounding out the heart of each and every track, and let’s not forget bassist Dev. With all the chaos unfurling around him he remains a figure of calm in a storm, almost motionless. But don’t under-estimate his importance in IDLES, his deep powerful, resonating bass riffs, at the centre of every track, shaping the sounds around it. Indeed many of IDLES best tracks can be identified purely from Dev’s bass parts.

As the set draws to a close, another classic fan favourite from “Joy As An Act of Resistence” Never Fight a Man With a Perm blasts out, with that early raw energy and punk anger that was central to “Joy” and “Brutalism” The crowd are singing along to all the lyrics. The pace chances for the more upbeat and danceable number Dancer from 2024’s “TANGK”, before we again head back to “Joy” for the absolute belter Danny Nedelko, a song written about a Ukrainian immigrant, and close friend of the members of the band, who is also the lead singer of the band Heavy Lungs. The song's lyrics take aim at and are heavily critical of nationalism. Once again the Bristol crowd do the band proud, shouting along to its messaging, a riotous celebration of immigrants and what they bring to society.

The set finally ends with another favourite from “Joy” in Rottweiler during which the band are joined by a member of the crowd Aidan who joins in on guitar.

And that’s it…. Its over. But boy – what a night ! I absolutely can’t think of a better three band line up that I’ve seen in recent years, The Lambrini Girls, Soft Play and IDLES all deliver fast, chaotic and raw post-punk, politically charged mayhem, but in different ways. Each bounces well off the others, and the result is a stunning night.

The world we live in seems more frightening and worrying than it has for a long time, with bigotry, authoritarianism and corruption on the rise and almost seen as the norm, it takes bravery to stand proud against this tide, and IDLES, Soft Play and the Lambrini Girls did us proud tonight. Punk as a force for change, and good, seems as relevant and important today as it did back in the 80’s.

An incredible night from start to finish. Bristol turned up in their droves for IDLES, and IDLES did the Bristol faithful proud. This NEEDS to happen again in 2026……

Setlist

Colossus* (Joy as an Act of Resistance 2018)

Gift Horse* (TANGK 2024)

Mr. Motivator* (Ultra Mono 2020)

Mother (Brutalism 2017)

Car Crash (Crawler 2021)

I'm Scum (Joy as an Act of Resistance 2018)

Date Night (Brutalism 2017)

Jungle* (TANGK 2024)

The Wheel* (Crawler 2021)

When the Lights Come On (Crawler 2021)

Divide and Conquer* (Brutalism 2017)