IDLES have kicked off the first run of shows on their 2024 European tour – and given tracks from their upcoming LP their live debut. Find the setlist and footage below.
The performances came at the end of last week, as the British indie-rock band played the first shows of their 2024 tour across Europe – their first live performances in the run-up to the release of their fifth studio album ‘TANGK’.
Launching the tour on Thursday (February 1) with a show in Belgium and on Friday (February 2) with a follow-up show in France, frontman Joe Talbot and co. took to the stage to break out some various tracks from the new LP.
They kicked off the opening show with a rendition of a previously unannounced song called ‘Idea 01’, which was given its world premiere on the night. Opening with a slow, haunting introduction, the track maintains its feel as a slow burn and Talbot is heard repeating the melancholic line “These are the things we lost in the fire”.
Following on, the previously shared single ‘Gift Horse’ was given its live debut next, taking the set into a move groove-dominated, eruptive territory. From there another unannounced track was given its world premiere – ‘POP POP POP’, a steady, defiant song which is the third in the LP’s tracklisting.
Check out footage of all three, captured at the Paris show, below.
While ‘Idea 01’, ‘Gift Horse’ and ‘POP POP POP’ were all debuted at the Belgium show, they were played again the following night at Maison de la Radio, Studio 104 in Paris.
As well as airing out the new tracks again for the crowd, IDLES also introduced three more new songs into the second setlist. The first of which was a single from ‘TANGK’ called ‘A Gospel’.
This was later followed up by the first-ever live performances of ‘Hall & Oates’ and ‘Grace’. Other tracks played on the night include ‘Mother’, ‘1049 Gotho’, ‘The Wheel’, ‘Car Crash’ and ‘Gratitude’. Check out more footage and both setlists in full below.
IDLES’ setlist at VRT Radio Marconi Studio, Schaarbeek, Belgium was:
1. ‘Idea 01’ (world premiere)
2. ‘Gift Horse’ (live debut)
3. ‘POP POP POP’ (world premiere)
4. ‘Dancer’
5. ‘Car Crash’
6. ‘Mother’
7. ‘A Hymn’
8. ‘The Wheel’
9. ‘Meds’
10. ‘Gratitude’
Their setlist at Maison de la Radio, Studio 104, Paris, France was:
1. ‘Idea 01’
2. ‘Gift Horse’
3. ‘POP POP POP’
4. ‘A Gospel’ (Live debut)
5. ‘1049 Gotho’
6. ‘The Wheel’
7. ‘Car Crash’
8. ‘Hall & Oates’ (Live debut)
9. ‘Gratitude’
10. ‘Grace’ (Live debut)
11. ‘Mother’
Set for release on February 16, ‘TANGK’ will be the fifth studio album from IDLES, and their first since 2021’s ‘CRAWLER’.
They first announced details of the upcoming album last year, when they dropped the scuzzy lead single ‘Dancer’.
Speaking to NME at the time, Talbot and co. told fans about what they could expect from the upcoming LP, and revealed that it is some of their most “transgressive” work to date.
“It’s our most vivid and our most accomplished songwriting. We’ve finished songs,” the frontman said. “A couple of songs on ‘CRAWLER’ were very much unfinished. That wasn’t through some sort of fear, but through a sense of poise. We were like, ‘This is going somewhere, but let’s not force it’. It was unfinished in the sense that it didn’t have a narrative arc and the musical lingo that we want, but what we did have were songs and parts that we fucking loved.”
“Now we have that under our belt and we’re able to create that arc and finish songs off,” he added. “We feel like we can move on, full stop.”
The European leg of IDLES’ tour is set to run until the end of March when it will close out with a show in Frankfurt. From there, the band will head across the pond for some North American live shows, which will run between May and June.
The remainder of the summer will see them play some homecoming shows across the UK – including stops in Manchester, London, Birmingham, Nottingham and more. Visit here for remaining tickets and click here to pre-order ‘TANGK’.