foals

Concert Review: Foals, May 13, Kool Haus

Posted on by Melody Lamb in Concerts | Leave a comment

foals

Disclaimer: this is three parts personal essay, one part concert review

Approximately a year ago, I went to a Foals show at the Kool Haus. I had regrettably missed every show of theirs up to that point, primarily because I had only discovered the British band’s music after the release of their 2010 album, Total Life Forever. Music journalists can’t always stay on top of things, you know.

But this was it. I would finally experience all the hype of their live show, as regaled to me by my fanatic friends. The only problem: an old flame of mine was also going to be there that evening. He’s not from Toronto nor have we spoken in years, so while I was anticipating the dancing guitars of the band I paid money to see, I was also overly eager to speak to this stranger I spent months fawning over.

I ran into him between sets and exchanged numbers. In reality, I still had his number in my phone, but he didn’t have mine. We parted ways and a few songs into Foals’ set – electrifying from its very first note – I received a text from him. He was alone, by the bar near the exit. So naturally, I left my friends and headed towards the alluring glow of lights at the bar (which I had already visited a few times to nervously chug drinks).

The rest of the band’s set found me filling up on beers backstage, smoking cigarettes outside and even trekking across the street in search for more smokes. As the boy and I gave up on the search, I could hear the booming noise of “My Number” seeping through the walls as I stood, lost, in an empty parking lot with a person who was nothing but poisonous to me. “You don’t have my number,” I can image singer Yannis Philippakis howling on the other side of the concrete walls. “We don’t need each other now.”

Needless to say, I never got that Foals experience I was hoping for. Instead, I got too drunk, abandoned my closest friends and contemplated the same mistakes I had made two years prior to that.

Last night, I returned to the scene of the crime, but determined to reclaim that night I let slip by almost a year ago. I was sober and significantly more stable, emotionally. Guess it helps that I’m in a healthy relationship now and it was a Tuesday night.

As my friend and I navigated through the dark room, pushing past sweaty post-Cage the Elephant bodies, we found ourselves almost in the same position as we were in last time, but I kept my feet planted, knowing that I wasn’t going to run off into the night with some guy. Plus, I don’t smoke anymore. No excuses, I was ready for the show.

Foals, of course, didn’t disappoint. Drawing mostly from their 2013 album Holy Fire, the band ripped through a set of chest-pumping anthems. Their knotty riffs are often tightly wound on record, but it unravels live. Songs like “Spanish Sahara” and show-closer “Two Steps, Twice” served as blueprints for the band to run askew with, veering into a full-on rock show at times. The uproarious jolts of jam-rock were combined with a vivid light show and in those moments, the building drumrolls hiked up your heart rate in anticipation for its explosive climax.

It’s clear that this band can and need to play bigger stages someday, to accommodate the monstrous sound they carry with them now. But then again, it’s still nice to see Philippakis hurtle his body onto an adoring crowd as he crowd surfs with a guitar in hand. People jumped, people danced, hell, some even brought back the classic lighters in the air (as opposed to lit-up cell phones).

It’s easy to see how a band like this has built a hefty reputation for memorable live shows. It’s a euphoria that’s infectiously winning. It’s the euphoria I should’ve chosen all along.

Concert Review: Foals, May 11, Kool Haus

Posted on by Ricky in Concerts | Leave a comment

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Oxford band Foal‘s show at the Kool Haus on Saturday was as expected, a wild and energetic affair that left the packed crowd abuzzed and rocking. In town to promote their third album – Holy Fire, Foal’s tight set had many highlights but lets just take a look at one for now. Yannis Philippakis is the lead vocalist of Foals. Ask any girl who is a fan of the band and they will instantly swoon at the mention of this bearded man, who always seem to be on the verge of chaos during a show. He also loves to wander during his set. I still remember the Lee’s Palace gig when he decided to start playing guitar from the back of the Lee’s Palace bar. Venue exploration is a hobby of his.

Let’s take a look at the Kool Haus.

koolhaus_layout

Above you will see the term Bro Pct. This means percentage of crowd that consists of bro’s for any type of rock show at the Kool Haus. Because the exit is on stage right, you will see that the Bro Percentage is higher near the door because, really, why bother going to the other side. Take a look at this layout, it is important. Since Foals is now recognized as a full out rock band (and not a nerdy numbers act, as was previously thought), there were quite a handful of crowd surfers throughout the show. I mean, why not? With Holy Fire, Foal’s have slowly become more of a tighter, groovier and more dance-able rock act.

The legions of crowd surfers surely inspired Yannis to take a trip to the crowd. His first attempt, however, was misguided. Armed with his wireless guitar, Yannis took to the crowd near stage left, where it was mostly people who wanted to dance and be close, but also avoid injury at the hands of a crowd surfer or a bunch of bro’s in Hollister shirts. Here is the route that Yannis took:

koolhaus_try_1

Going for the classic Springsteen crowd surf while playing guitar move, Yannis went above the barrier and with no hesitation, heaved himself into the arms of his fans and … dropped. Even I wasn’t surprised, there are some factors that are needed for a successful crowd surf:

a) lots of guys
b) high density area

It should be noted that the Kool Haus, while packed, was not closed to sold out. This means that people had space, which means low density. Combine that with the not high percentage of bro’s, and you can see why this move failed. However, Yannis was undeterred. During another song, he once again took to the crowds.

koolhaus_try_2

This time, it was more towards the middle and Yannis actually took the time to wait for a crowd to come closer before launching himself. It was a moderate success as he managed to play a few notes on before it all fell apart and oh boy, when it fell apart, the crowd around him dropped like dominoes. You ever watch wrestling when there’s a bunch of people fighting outside the ring and then some light weight dude climbs a turnbuckle and jumps onto the crowd and everyone falls down? that’s what it seemed like. Still, the crowd loved it.

Detour: So as the show goes on, Yannis decides to do something I have almost never seen before. He gets off stage during a guitar solo, walks to the side, goes to the bar, orders a drink, drinks half of it and throws the rest at the crowd:

koolhaus_try_3

I personally think he did this because he was scouting the crowd to see what he can actually do, and where he can actually go. Finally, as the Foals set came to a conclusion he finally succeeded with his crowd surfing.

koolhaus_try_4

As you would expect, this time, Yannis not only waited for a crowd to form, but the the crowd was also prepared for the task of hoisting the man up for him to do his glorious guitar while crowd surfing move. Taking stage right, Yannis approached the guard rail, saw the large percentage of bros, waited as they packed themselves close together and then without a single hesitation, leaped into the air and landed on the hands of his fans (and not the ground). If anything, it just goes to show, if at first you don’t succeed, try again.

Oh yeah, the show was awesome.

Concert Review: Foals, April 30, Phoenix Theatre

Posted on by Ricky in Concerts | Leave a comment

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Toronto – I should make a rule – never see a band on the second show of the same tour, especially when it’s a larger venue and the first show was fantastic. Foals – Oxford’s favorite math-indie-dance rock outfit was back in Toronto on Saturday seven months after their blistering performance at Lee’s Palace in September. Since that fateful day, the band has seen their popularity steadily increase to the point where they were playing a sold out Phoenix.

Playing once again with what appears to be the world’s biggest chip on their shoulder, Yannis Philippakis and company took the stage shortly after 11 and delivered a blistering set that hit the crowd with a fistful of intensity. I don’t know what it is about them, but they never seem to be happy. It translates well into the music which is heavy on percussions and moves along at a frenetic pace. Songs like Miami, Black Gold and Total Life Forever whipped the crowd into a jumping frenzy. Only the opening sombre notes of Spanish Sahara settled the crowd a bit before the eventual tempo change set them loose once again. Yannis, for the most part, matched the crowd’s energy level, at one point playing the guitar while crowd surfing. I was particularly impressed when he did a running jump into the crowd, getting quite the air time and clearing a good few rows of people.He would then wander around the Phoenix, including a trip up into the balcony.

On paper, it was a great show, but for me, something was missing. Maybe it was the thrill of seeing them for the first time. Maybe it was the much larger and less intimate venue. Either way, Foals are pretty exceptional live – providing an endless, relentless jolt of energy into the jubilant Toronto crowd before setting them loose into the night.

Blue Blood
Olympic Airways
Total Life Forever
Balloons
Miami
After Glow
Black Gold
Spanish Sahara
Red Socks Pugie
Electric Bloom

Encore:
One (Swedish House Mafia cover)
The French Open
Two Steps, Twice

Foals – Miami by Electric Audio

Concert Review: Foals, Sept 27, Lee’s Palace

Posted on by Ricky in Concerts, Everything | 6 Comments

Toronto – Last night’s Foals was an unexpected dose of awesomeness that sparked up an otherwise dull Monday night. In case you haven’t heard, Foals is an Oxford 5 piece post-punk dance rock band that have garnered much hype and fans within their two album existence. Their latest album, Total Life Forever was nominated for the prestigious Mercury Prize and is among the contenders for album of the year. They were in town Monday night to play to a sold out show at Lee’s Palace. I managed to score a ticket the day of the show.

What can you say about a Foals show? It’s a freakin riot. Given their album’s penchant for driving percussive beats and the youngish crowd in the audience, I asked my friend Jess if there would be a mosh pit to which she replied “maybe”. Immediately after the band took the stage and launched in the song Total Life Forever, I realized that a mosh pit was inevitable. These guys were here to rock out.

Let’s talk about their equipment. These guys had wireless guitars! Amazing! I don’t remember the last time I’ve seen this at a small show. Why don’t other bands utilize this? The wireless guitar allowed Yannis Philippakis to wander through the crowd throughout the set and well, to say that Yannis wandered during the set last night was an understatement. At one point, he was standing on the bar at the end of Lee’s Palace, playing his guitar. He could have stopped and grabbed a burrito he was so far back. Speaking of the dude, Foals have quite an intense stage presence. Yannis treads the line of “dirty rocker who can be unexpectedly violent” very well, and that edge added a layer of intensity to the show and a bit of electricity in the air.

However, let’s get back to the equipment. As the set wore on, guitarists Jimmy Smith’s equipment started breaking down. First, it was his amp, then guitar, then amp, then guitar or something in that order. As the equipment started to malfunction, the bands mood changed and they just got angrier and angrier. However, with each equipment failure, the show got increasingly intense, and as a result, the crowd got increasingly rowdier. At one point, Yannis delivered one of the best kicks I have seen at a show. The poor microphone stand didn’t stand a chance. I don’t know if that mic worked after it. It was pretty cool. All this leads me to this conclusion:

To my surprise, a lot of the set focused on their debut record Antidotes with some sprinklings here and there from Total Life Forever. I guess it didn’t matter in the end as each song was hammered with the driving beats from drummer Jack Bevan. Spanish Sahara was as epic as you expected it to be and songs like Olympic Airways and Cassius gave the enthusiastic crowd reason to jump around. Hell, I would argue any song was good enough reason to jump around.

In conclusion, the show was unexpectedly awesome. The energy from both the band and the crowd was inspiring for a Monday night and anyone who thinks Toronto concert goers are just a bunch of swaying crossed arm deadbeats should attend a Foals show the next time they are in town.

Ps. A big thank you to Lee’s Palace for turning on the A/C halfway through the show.

Total Life Forever
Olympic Airways
Miami
Blue Blood
Balloons
After Glow
2 Trees
Alabaster
Spanish Sahara
Red Socks Pugie
Electric Bloom

Encore:
The French Open
Two Steps, Twic

Foals – Spanish Sahara by subpop