Not many bands out there are doing what Foals do. Mixing elements of math-rock that makes you rock out and dance simultaneously, as well as creating blissful moments of sincere beauty that will stop you dead in your tracks. They put all of this on full display with relative ease. Many people who were in attendance on Friday night are calling it one of the best shows of 2013 – if not the best. I can’t really argue with that.
Blondfire opened things with a poppy set that was safe, but enjoyable. A lot of their songs reminded me of other songs, which hit full circle of irony when they covered Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” quite well. Foals’ fellow Warner Bros. label bros Surfer Blood were next and it’s been maybe two years since I last saw them and some things have changed, some hasn’t. They still open with “Floating Vibes” (as they should) and it looks like Kevin Williams is the permanent bassist of the band taking over for Brian Black (looks like Marcos Marchesani is no more as well). They mixed their older material well with the new stuff from their upcoming album Pythons.
obviously opened things with “Prelude” which went right into “Inhaler”, which is a wonderfully heavy beast live. From there they reminded us of their youth with “Balloons” & “Olympic Airways” both highlights from their debut. From there they opted for the big expansive tracks “Bad Habit”, “Milk & Black Spiders”, and “Spanish Sahara.” Like a switch, Foals can just flip on a different identity and lay down heart-stopping quiet moments, right before launching into heavy hitters like “Red Sox Pugie”, “Providence” and “Electric Bloom”, the latter of which Foals frontman Yannis Philippakis had no reservations about climbing onto the 2nd balcony and running through the crowd (and past myself).
The encore consisted of one softer number (“Stepson”) before the high octane cuts “My Number” and “Two Steps, Twice” which seemed to just build up until no one in the building could take it anymore. Foals are masters of building up songs to unbelievably tense heights, and then breaking them down just as hard.
Foals are a great live act, and one of the best bands currently playing the game. Scary thing is they really are just getting started.
Find a bunch of photos from all three bands posted below.
Foals:
Surfer Blood:
Blondfire:
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