One thing I didn't expect from FOALS tonight was the intro - Greek Sing-a-long, which, to me, sounded like Benedictine monks at a rave. So that was nice, and it shook you up a little, which is what this band does. Send them into hospitals to play for long-term coma sufferers; they'd soon wake up, legs shaking and head nodding.
Next up was The French Open, a song that's received some radio play and is apparently about Andy Roddick. It's bloody catchy though. And the kids loved it. Boys were doing that pulsing leg throbbing dance thing (I too am a victim of this from time to time) and a few girls are going particularly mad, one sort of performing a cross between thrusts and gyrations from her perch at the front of the stage. Still, it didn't stop the band.
They're good to watch, FOALS. It sounds great, but you can see, watching them, that they're having as good a time as the rest of the crowd. Guitars are worn very high up (even the bass is quite high) and this leads to more boy leg shaking, but with a kind of controlled epilepsy thing going on too. So they shake, and throb forwards and backwards frantically strumming away. It's nice and reassuring to the watching public, who don't feel like tits themselves now for getting into it good and proper themselves.
The front section of the crowd at least, all looked like cast members in Skins, but the trendies were not just held to gentle head bobbing, crowd surfers tumbled forwards, often only to be dumped on their arses when they reached the front, where folks were to into what was going on to really care.
The good thing about FOALS is, live especially, that the songs keep giving. They build up and up, and when a lesser band might not find anywhere else to go and have to end the song, FOALS find an extra gear, and they just get better. The three song finale proved this quite well indeed, Mathletics, followed by Two Steps, Twice with that song from Skins Hummer to end it all. It is so, so much more than the song from Skins though. It's a swelling beast. I hope the connection with the aforementioned TV programme doesn't turn off a few music snobs out there, because, while serving a good purpose of bringing them to the masses, these could make everyone happy really, man woman or child. I suppose if I stop mentioning it, no-one would ever know.
So, if you missed them, and like pulsing guitars with the energy and excitement of an early The Cooper Temple Clause gig (and yes, they were really really good back in the day, ignore the last album) then get yourself to a FOALS show. There in Sheffield again soon, so keep your eyes peeled kids, they made me feel like getting sweaty up front with the kids - something I thought I was ‘too old' for.
Setlist:
Greek Sing-a-long (intro)
The French Open
Cassius
Olympic Airways
Balloons
Heavy Water
Red Sox ...(I can't read the next word)
Mathletics
Two Steps, Twice
Hummer
