Last Tuesday, Bitterzoet room in Amsterdam received the Scottish band Idlewild because of the presentation tour of their latest studio album Everything Ever Written, the first after about 6 years without releasing new material, also time in which the band itself announced an indefinite hiatus that allowed some members to focus on their solo careers.
Before an audience that almost filled completely the small room from the Dutch capital, Roddy Woomble and company started the show with songs of greatest punch of their new album, such as "Nothing I Can Do About It", "Collect Yourself" and "Radium Girl", among which they played for the surprise of majority of the public their great hit "You Held the World in your Arms". In those first moments the sound was somewhat deficient, mainly due to excessive volume of Rob Jones' guitar and also on the kick drum, which powdered another of their great themes of the past, "Roseability" but as if by magic were solved immediately allowing us to enjoy an incredible cover of "Make Another World", in which the violin by Hanna Fisher highlighted above all.
After the powerful start concert, the most renowned of their long career songs was interspersed with songs from their new work, showing that although these new songs show a remarkable album, the songs from their old discography achieved sounding with much more strength and claw. For instance we enjoyed a wonderful cover of "A Film for the Future", again with the violin as protagonist, or songs like "American English" or now distant "Captain", which transported us to the years of our adolescence.
After about an hour of gig, the band chose to introduce some of the more intimate themes of their career, which proved to be a mistake due to contrast with the strength of their lyrics and guitars on songs more chanted by the audience . Thus, the guitars on "Little Discourage" and "A Modern Way of Letting Go" or drums on "The Captain" led to other songs such as the new "(Use It) If You Can Use It" or "The quiet Crown" sounded quite decaffeinated. The same happened with some bises who lacks force, especially after the distortions and volume of "In Remote Part / Scottish Fiction", last song before the extras converted into a kind of jam session of more than 7 minutes.. So, despite the bitter taste left by the last minutes the concert, the repertoire and the quality of the Scottish band Dutch won in the cold dutch night, showing that their return after the indefinite hiatus of the band was very necessary, hoping perhaps to see them at some festival this summer where his setlist suits better to their rock spirit than the median times that do not favour them.
