IDLES: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

Watch Idles play “Never Fight A Man With A Perm“, “Mercedes Marxist“ and “I’m Scum“ at the Tiny Desk. June 18, 2019 | Bob Boilen -- My first time seeing Idles ended with guitarist Mark “Bobo“ Bowen frenetically dancing on a bar, his guitar still keeping time, until the swinging neck suddenly shattered some low-hanging, glass lighting fixtures. The band’s set at South by Southwest was fierce and I knew it’d be a challenge trying to figure out how to bring that cathartic rage behind my desk. There was talk for a while of some members of the band strapping on pocket-sized guitar amps and beating on a single drum. But a week before this bunch of British madmen arrived at NPR, the instrument list had grown and what ensued was just about the loudest, most fun and most raucous Tiny Desk Concert in memory. What lead singer Joe Talbot and his mates bring to their shows is a mix of love and outrage. Their songs are often bursts of fury, but the message i