By Julia Mullins, Co Editor-in-Chief
Content warning: sexual references and swearing—excessive use of the word c*nt.
Before playing a single note, Lambrini Girls, SOFT PLAY and IDLES took to the stage armed with pots and pans. Their clattering protest silenced the square. Social and political commentary has always been integral to punk music and Friday night’s Block Party on August 1st was no exception.
IDLES guitarist Mark Bowen grabbed the mic. He told the crowd ‘They’re trying to silence us. They’re trying to stop people from getting on stages.’ He implored the audience to use their voices; to go to protests, write to MPs and share resources online about the genocide in Gaza.
The giant screens flashed with the messages: ‘STOP STARVING GAZA / USE YOUR VOICE / ISRAEL IS COMMITTING GENOCIDE IN GAZA.’ The first of many chants of ‘Free! Free! Palestine!’ rung out across Queen Square.
Lambrini Girls
Never to be accused of a gentle start, Lambrini Girls’ jumped into the set screaming, ‘WHO’S READY TO FUCK?!’
The girls in question are Phoebe Lunny on vocals and guitar and Lilly Macieira playing bass clad in their iconic uniform of bleach-blond hair and smudged red lipstick.
Beginning big with ‘Big Dick Energy’ and ‘Company Culture’, both songs bite back at male entitlement and societal expectations of women. Though the music is fuelled by rage and irony, it’s blissful to have space to express those feelings. Captured wonderfully by the lyric: ‘Michael, I don’t want to suck you off on my lunchbreak!’
While it looked like mayhem, Pheobe’s command was incredible, setting strict ground rules for behaviour, ‘What do we do if someone falls down?’ she asked – the crowd roared back ‘PICK EM UP!’
Following ‘God’s Country’, they played ‘Bad Apple’ lead by chants of ‘AC!/ AB!’ Pheobe jumped off the stage and parted the waiting rabble. Standing between us, she condemned the police and offered a novel solution: ‘Imagine each side of the crowd as the dirtiest pigs you’ve ever seen.’ She gave us full permission to let our anger out on one another.
Amidst the crowd, I found myself face to face with someone I recently dated. I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to avoid someone in a mosh pit but there’s famously a lack of ability to determine your direction of travel. I scrambled back to the safety of my flatmate who helpfully chimed in with the fact that the song playing was called ‘Love’.
Their set finished with C*ntology 101, currently their most-streamed song and the finale of their recently released album, Who Let the Dogs Out. If the word ‘c*nty’ were to become a dictionary entry, this song would be a good place to start your research. It’s a series of scenarios the girls identify as ‘c*nty’, including but not limited to: ‘learning how to say no’, ‘setting boundaries’, ‘respecting others’ and lest not forget ‘having cum on your shirt’ – that’s c*nty too.
Soft Play
The next duo to take the stage: SOFT PLAY’s Isaac Holman and Laurie Vincent.
‘All Things’ kicks off both the set and their most recent album, Heavy Jelly. If you went to a Christian primary school the song will lure you in with familiarity. The refrain of ‘All Things Bright and Beautiful’ crashes directly into heavy drums and a guitar riff.
As if this article hadn’t already used up its quota of the word c*nt, Soft Play have a similar affinity for it. During the set, ‘SOFT C*NTS’ replaced ‘SOFT PLAY’ on the screen behind them. The criticism that followed renaming the band in 2022 – from Slaves to SOFT PLAY – is referenced in the song ‘Punk’s Dead.' Its lyrics cry out, ‘What the fuck’s with the new name anyway/ soft play more like soft c*nts.’
The crowd were mostly blokes who could sing lyrics of ‘Mirror Muscles’ with honest conviction – ‘schoolboys on steroids.’ Tall, built, and throwing themselves at one another. Doc Martens are no match for the force of a man landing on your feet.
At 5”2 it’s easy to feel intimidated — and to be fair I was getting relentlessly elbowed. Nonetheless the kindness in the crowd was everywhere: strangers pulling you up, catching your arm and the hilariously excessive distance given to anyone attempting to tie their shoelaces.
As if we hadn’t been ‘Act[ing] Violently’ enough, it was time for ‘Girl Fight’. A call to action for the women in the crowd, we assembled for a 12-second bout. The first few seconds were a little tame but we hit our stride just in time.
‘Everything and Nothing’ stopped the audience in their tracks. The song stands out in their repertoire for its tear-jerking lyrics and mandolin accompaniment. Standing still for the first time we felt weakness in our knees, whether it was from the song or as a consequence of our moshing I couldn’t tell you.
Picking up the energy again, they finished strong with an older song on the setlist — and one that’s accompanied me countless times through my headphones: ‘The Hunter’.
In the break between artists, we caught our breaths and began to evaluate the best beer to have thrown over you; even more upsetting once I saw how long the queue for the bar was.
IDLES
‘Colossus’ opened the set and the final act of the night was in full swing.
IDLES – led by Bristol’s own Joe Talbot – boasts an incredible setlist and discography tackling addiction, mental health, and stereotypes of masculinity. Introducing one song, Joe told the crowd, ‘This one’s about shit drugs – not the good ones’, before following up with a heartfelt message about struggling with addiction.
A thorough mix of new and old, every track was so loud you could hear it through the ground. ‘Date Night’ and ‘Jungle’ are personal favourites, and I leapt into the madness. ‘Jungle’ belongs to a category of songs I can’t listen to in the library because I physically cannot keep my feet still. My mates watched on, amused and preparing to drag me back to safety at a moment’s notice.
The cry of ‘HEADS!’ often came too late. Parting the sunshine briefly a man-shaped shadow would loom and suddenly my feeble wrists became the only thing stopping someone crashing to the ground.
I ended up stood next to a girl who looked out of it. I asked if she was okay and she told me she had lost her boyfriend. I gestured to our surroundings and unhelpfully suggested she just pick out a new one.
It wasn’t just the crowd that had this sense of camaraderie; the bands were in on it too. With every one of the acts confidently throwing themselves into the waiting mass, the art of crowd control was as much on display as the music. In particular, Lee Kiernan on guitar had a penchant for crowd surfing (pictured below).
‘Free! Free! Palestine!’ and ‘Viva Palestina’ rang out between every second song, echoing Bowen’s words from earlier in the day.
Catharsis came just in time, ‘Beachland Ballroom’ was the soft underbelly of their setlist. The vulnerable waltz gives us the best of Joe’s vocal range and a moment of reflection.
When ‘Dancer’, the IDLES - LCD Soundsystem collab from their latest album TANGK played, ‘hip to hip / cheek to cheek’ was literal. We were packed together so tightly the crowd moved like one great beast — I imagine it’s what they pictured in the studio when they made the track.
Joe took a moment to remind us not to believe everything you see online, that there’s still kindness in the world. ‘Danny Nedelko’ hit close to home, the song celebrates immigrants as ‘blood brothers’; ‘He’s made of bones, he’s made of blood / He’s made of flesh, he’s made of love / He’s made of you, he’s made of me.’ Released in 2018, it's just as relevant as ever, eloquently explaining the state of the UK: ‘Fear leads to panic, panic leads to pain / Pain leads to anger, anger leads to hate.’
Joe’s attention was caught by someone at the barrier, requesting to play guitar for ‘Rottweiler’. We did a double-take as the guy who’d been stood beside us during the Lambrini Girls set was welcomed onto stage and handed a guitar. The crowd chanting his name.
Joe gave us a final farewell: ‘See you again soon. All is love.’
As we left we met two guys who’d travelled all the way from Paris just for this gig. It made us feel unbelievably lucky to live in a city where all this was on our doorstep. We left Queen Square sweaty, bruised and grinning.
Featured Image: Epigram / Harvey Belchamber
Dear IDLES Block Party, please can we do this again next year?
