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Idlewild

Apr 09, 2026 By Dom Gourlay Web Exclusive

​With ten albums and over thirty singles spanning thirty years, Idlewild‘s status as a UK musical institution is firmly cemented. Although not as prolific now as when they first started out; last year’s self-titled tenth album was their first in six years, the quality control has never diminished over time. Three original members still remain in guitarist Rod Jones, drummer Colin Newton, and mercurial frontman Roddy Woomble whose youthful demeanour isn’t that different from when he and his band first played Nottingham some twenty-eight years ago.

Unsurprisingly, tonight’s show in the 450 capacity Rescue Rooms was long sold out before this evening, meaning support act Zoe Graham gets to play to a full room. One of Glasgow’s rising young stars, the singer/songwriter’s debut album TENT was nominated for the prestigious SAY (Scottish Album of the Year) award in 2025, and it’s easy to see why as her insatiable mix of indie and folk warms an attentive crowd from start to finish. Having just come off tour with acclaimed actor and musician Peter Capaldi, Graham and the two musicians that make up her band give an accomplished performance that’s actually reminiscent of Nottingham’s own Girlband in places. While still a newcomer in many parts of the UK, there’s an energy to songs like “Evilin” and “Push and Pull” which suggests it won’t be long before she’s a household name outside of her native city.

Playing in front of a woodland backdrop that’s depicted on the cover of their most recent long player, Idlewild could be forgiven for making tonight’s set all about that record. Having received a wealth of critical acclaim from both fans and commentators alike, there’s a strong case to be made for tonight’s set to focus almost exclusively on Idlewild. That it doesn’t speaks volumes for the band’s near flawless back catalogue and upstanding confidence in delivering a set spanning their entire career.

Two of the first three songs in the set are “A Film For The Future” and “I’m A Message”; both released as singles in 1998 preceding the album they came from Hope Is Important. Delivered with the same level of precision and vitriol as they were first time around, it makes for a blistering opening with most recent single “Like I Had Before” sandwiched in-between. The rest of the set follows in similar fashion, as another song off Idlewild “Make It Happen” quickly gives way to “Little Discourage” off 2000’s 100 Broken Windows before another recent composition “It’s Not The First Time” comes next.

Purposeful renditions of “Stay Out Of Place” and “I Wish I Wrote It Down” further accentuate the quality that shines throughout the new(est) record while the album’s closing track “End With Sunrise” makes its live debut this evening. Nevertheless, when the back do delve into their back catalogue for a frenetic run through early single “Everyone Says You’re So Fragile” or “You Held The World In Your Arms” and “American English” off the band’s most commercially successful era to date (2002’s The Remote Part) it feels anything but nostalgic.

“When I Argue I See Shapes” and “Roseability” trade blows with the more soothing “El Capitan” and “Love Steals Us With Loneliness”. While a rare outing for Hope Is Important favourite “Paint Nothing” at the start of the encore even elicits a mini-moshpit in the middle of the venue before “A Modern Way Of Letting Go” and “In Remote Part/Scottish Fiction” bring this glorious celebration of one of the UK’s most treasured bands to a majestic finale.