TANGK offer up a night of surprises at London's Village Underground

Words: Jamie Muir.Photos: Nicole Osrin.

Who are TANKG? Filling Village Underground to the rafters with no music to their name may be a bold move, but you never quite know what may happen in London’s buzziest venues. Any expectat...

Okay, fine, it’s IDLES.

Dropping hints yet not making things wildly obvious is certainly an achievement, but for eager-eyed fans, tonight is the start of a new chapter - a left turn that acts as the perfect reset for a band who’ve done it all. Having grafted their way to the top, after all the adulation and acclaim, what do IDLES do next? Taking to the stage as TANGK for a secret show at Village Underground, they answer that question clearly, setting up what could end up as their greatest era to date.

Opening track ‘Gratitude’ immediately sweeps away any preconceptions. It’s a brand new number that takes crooning swagger and turns it into dance-punk discos. A natural next step from previous album ‘Crawler’, it’s a vibrantly fresh path. If that record opened the door, then new album ‘TANGK’ is blasting it down, surging with a newfound hunger. Moody, fizzing, distorted guitars and a bouncing heartbeat of electronica and dance, it sets the tone for a set that both promises the new and still finds room to run through the band’s greatest hits. “I, for one, hate new music and love hearing the old stuff,” jokes frontman Joe Talbot.

With only one UK show to refer to this year (supporting Jamie T in Finsbury Park, no less), it feels like a homecoming that’s made the heart grow even fonder. Time away clearly has been met with a firecracker response. ‘Mr Motivator’ is jubilant. ‘I’m Scum’ erupts in every direction possible. ‘Grounds’ roars to life and drowns out any naysayers. ‘Crawl!’, ‘Mother’ and the hypnotic ‘Car Crash’ are like bulldozers ripping through anything in their path. Tonight serves as the ultimate reminder of IDLES’ brilliance live, matching the ferocious with the unflinchingly honest and vulnerable.

Before ‘The Beachland Ballroom’, frontman Joe explains how important nights like this are. Shining in the darkest moment, it seems almost a cliche at this point to state IDLES’ importance to so many, but just two minutes standing in the heart of Village Underground tonight is enough for that to ring true. ‘Dancer’ is given its live debut (minus the recording version's assist from James Murphy and Nancy Wang LCD Soundsystem) and immediately feels like a shot in the arm. A perfect bridge between chapters, it fuses dance and ripping hooks for something impossible to resist.

With ‘Never Fight A Man With A Perm’, ‘Danny Nedelko’ and ‘Rottweiler’ putting yet another exclamation point on the evening, it proves that IDLES aren’t comfortable with resting on their laurels. They ain’t done yet, in fact – they’re just getting started.