The BBC 6 Music Festival has started and acts from the long-established to the up-and-coming have congregated in the Welsh capital for a celebration of music. IDLES headline as Alt-rock pioneers Pixies are first on tonight and while they may not do much in the form of grandiose showmanship or audience interaction, they don’t need to when the songs are this strong.
Where Is My Mind? and Monkey Gone To Heaven provoke enormous reactions from the crowd, and you get the sense that the band have honed their craft to such an extent that it doesn’t matter where they are on the bill or the size of venue they’re playing, as they are going to impress regardless. They “have influenced everybody”, as tonight’s headliners later point out: as such, the theatre-esque bows the openers conduct at the end of their set feel utterly natural and deserved.
“I was nervous when I was told I was playing between Pixies and Idles,” says Lucy Dacus as she takes the stage. Indeed, while her placement as a folk-influenced artist is somewhat strange, she makes every second of her set count. Her songs resonate with a kind of ethereal beauty, and provide a sense of calm when contrasted with the raucous nature of the other acts on the bill – yet can reach those cathartic heights in key moments. “I’m convinced. I’m a fan now,” I say to the person next to me upon the end of Dacus’ performance, and I daresay many others felt the same.
Idles emanate dynamism and passion for their music and message; it’s matched by the crowd, who dance and mosh in a unified throng to the anthems of justice and community. Songs like I’m Scum and Danny Nedelko, the latter of which sees guitarist Lee Kiernan climbing atop the crowd to holler the bridge, bring a trademark ferocity to the table. Meanwhile, A Hymn and MTT 420 RR give a tender side to the show.
In fact, whether it’s the vocal-cord-shredding shouting along by the audience, the ferocious and eccentric performances by the band or the hard work on the part of the crew and the BBC, this is a vibrant end to a beautiful and memorable night.
Great Hall, Cardiff University Students Union, Fri 1 Apr
words ALEX SWIFT photos TIM ALBAN
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