Idles frontman Joe Talbot has spoken to NME about the prospect of the band stepping up to headline Glastonbury or Reading & Leeds in the future.
The Bristol punk band released their acclaimed fifth album ‘Tangk‘ last week, ahead of a busy summer of major festivals and some of the biggest headline shows of their career. With the band tipped to have another Number One album this week, attention now turns to whether they could be the next act to graduate to topping the bill at the UK’s largest festivals.
Asked about the prospect of headlining Reading & Leeds as part of this week’s NME In Conversation interview, Talbot replied: “Do I want it? It was the first and only festival I went to for six years. Headlining Reading would be sick, yeah. Things like that, you build them up in your head and it goes wrong. Every show is important, but yes, that has a history with me.
“I don’t like all that ‘Museum Of Rock History’ stuff where you’re like, ‘This is where Kurt Cobain sneezed’. Who the fuck cares? He didn’t care, why would I care? All the great people I’ve met like Kenny Beats, Nigel Godrich, [Foo Fighters‘] Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins, [The Strokes‘] Julian Casablancas – all people I’ve looked up to – when you meet them, it’s not like they’re humble and all ‘namaste’ or any of that shit, but they work hard. They understand why they are where they are. They’re like, ‘I have purpose and I am working’.”
He continued: “I like that thing where you see people who have worked hard, stuck to their game and have got purpose. It’s a beautiful thing to see, and I want to sustain that myself. Yeah, I’m here because of what I’ve been doing! I’ve worked hard for this and I’m not going to apologise!”
Admitting that “headlining Reading and Glastonbury would be sick”, Talbot measured that he “needs to get there” first.
“I don’t know if next year is the one; it depends on how this album goes,” he said. “‘Tangk’ will create ebbs and flows in our set that will make it more of a journey – hopefully more epic and more of a show, rather than whatever we were doing before (a fucking beautiful mess, with an arc). You make those decisions at the right time: you choose when to headline the [Glastonbury] Pyramid Stage, and you’ve got to be savvy to do that.
“I’ve seen it, and it’s a mess, where people have been elevated to the top of the game and they’re not at the top of their fucking game. They don’t know how to fucking wipe their arse on stage yet, do you know what I mean? It’s not nice to see. It’s a waste of a headline slot. There’s something about playing in front of a huge audience. You capture that energy because you understand how to un-think and ignite that combustible thing. It’s not you, it’s not your fucking ego – it’s them and it’s you together.”
Talbot went on: “That’s why Blur at Glastonbury was the best show I’ve ever seen, because they knew how magic it was. It wasn’t just because of ‘Tender’, but because of everything they’ve built and how to capture that magic that is live music. It takes a long time.”
Summing up, Talbot added: “So I don’t think headlining Reading is in or out yet. I don’t think they’re going to ask us, but if they did I’d be nervous to say yes right now, because you’ve got to be savvy to the context of where you’re playing.”
Watch above or check out the full interview with Talbot here, where he also discusses overcoming his past trauma with love and self-worth, shunning social media, and the state of politics today.
Reading & Leeds this year will be headlined by Blink-182, Liam Gallagher, Lana Del Rey, Fred.. Again, Catfish & The Bottlemen and Gerry Cinnamon, while the full Glastonbury 2024 line-up is expected in the coming month.
‘Tangk’ by Idles is out now, with the band touring throughout 2024. Visit here for tickets and more information.