Gig Review: Foals

On Tuesday (11/02/14) - the actual anniversary of Holy Fire - and friend of mine and I went to see Foals at O2 Academy, Birmingham. I knew it would be good but I'm not sure that I was ready for what it actually was...

The first band on, surprisingly wasn't Cage The Elephant as I was expecting, but an instrumental noise rock duo - That F***ing Tank. I'm pretty sure that this was a surprise to most of the crowd because when the guitarist and drummer stepped on stage and started hammering away at their instruments most of the crowd looked around to see if anyone else knew what was going on. Nonetheless, they came with some (slightly heavier) nice riffs but it did drag a little bit as not one word was spoken to sort of break up the instrumentals.

Next up though was actually Cage The Elephant. Now I've heard a lot of their stuff to date and have actually listened to their more recent record Melophobia a few times, but aside from songs like "Shake Me Down", "Come A Little Closer" and "Black Widow" nothing really made me lose my mind over them. Safe to say, I was definitely expecting quite a mellow set - I was so unbelievably wrong. They are 10 times better live than on record. I'm pretty sure the moshing started before a word was sung. Before I knew it I was being lifted off my feet and was holding Matt Shultz sweaty body above my head in the crowd. For that short 30-45 minutes it could've actually been Cage The Elephant's gig. They owned the place, and when those three songs were played, as expected, people went crazy. Pits were formed and crowds were surfed. The best way to warm up the crowd for what was to come.

After all that commotion - Foals. As soon as the lights dimmed and their intro music started playing the crowd was galvanised. They opened with "Prelude" and even though I knew that they would, I'm pretty sure I'd already lost my mind by this point. Everything is just coming back to me in flashes - this whole night just did something to me, I was definitely not aware of or responsible for my actions. They went through tune after tune, with songs like "Hummer", "My Number", "Milk & Black Spiders" and "Blue Blood" the crowd eating out of the palm of their hand the whole time. I was thrown to and from every corner of the room and still screaming lyrics and leaping about. Then they slowed things down a bit with "Spanish Sahara" and "Late Night". I'm not entirely sure what I was doing during "Late Night" if I'm honest but Yannis' solo was fantastic and the crowd didn't tire easily as everyone bellowed "STAAAAAAAAAAY WITH ME" with Yannis throughout the song.

Towards the end, the set fell into a pit of sweaty savagery with songs like "Providence" and "Inhaler". During "Providence", we were all animals if I'm honest. By this point I'd already been elbowed in the face, my piercing was bleeding and I was absolutely battered but somehow I still wanted more - everyone was completely bloodthirsty. Then Yannis said the words... "ARE YOU READY BIRMINGHAM?!" everyone knew what was coming. Before long, I was pushing people about in a floor-wide pit whilst grown men (and inevitably the population of 12 year olds) screamed "SPAAAAAACE!" back at the band. When they'd gone off before the encore the crowd unexpectedly started chanting "UN PEU, D'AIR SUR LA TERRE" - of course I joined in, all the while thinking "they'll never play 'The French Open' but may as well sing along". The band came back on.... and they played "The French Open". I was shocked but of course ecstatic. We shouted through the song happily before Yannis announced the last song - "Two Steps Twice". A myriad of chaos descended and I loved every second of it. Yannis attempted to jump from the balcony but was literally caught mid air and dragged back over the balcony by security (kill-joys). This didn't dampen the vibe for too long though, they just turned it up a notch and tore the place up as the set came to an abrupt end.

All in all, an absolute corker of a night and to think, exactly a year ago my friends and I met them at a tiny album launch in Rough Trade (here). Madness.

Overall Rating - 9.5/10


Here are some pictures from the night...