FOALS
Alexandra Palace | 14 February
Crack is late. Yes, Alexandra Palace is a wonderful venue, but when attempting the Friday night drive from Bristol, the pitfalls of driving rain and a bang-up on the M4 made missing Foals’ crowning achievement of their career to date – and this reviewer’s Valentine’s – a distinct possibility.
A quick detour to pick up the train at everyone’s favourite roundabout town, Slough, put pay to this scenario and we arrived at the Palace just in time to join Edith Bowman in legging it so not to miss the opener. You know you’re at a Foals gig when Edith Bowman is pelting it to get to the front; there are indie Cindys everywhere in sight.
Alexandra Palace is on sold-out lockdown for two nights and these are arguably the biggest dates the band have ever done. Despite the rather adverse weather conditions, there is a palpable sense of warmth inside the palace, and why not? Few bands these days survive past one and a half records (White Lies anyone?), so the fact Foals are on album three makes them a relative anomaly in the comparative attention spans of the modern discerning music lover. They’re also among the tightest live bands around, which might explain the numbers in tonight.
The pomp of latest record Holy Fire has brought Foals into sharper focus, with a number of tracks during the set showcasing what a rich and varied release that was. The build and bombast of Providence’s crescendo, complete with full-blown multi-instrumental shred, hits in stark contrast to Late Night’s beautifully understated guitar refrain, which is again in contrast to Inhaler’s Rage riff and My Number’s poptastic credentials. What is brought into even sharper focus over the course of this gig is what an incredible debut record 2008’s Antidotes really was.
There isn’t a stronger closing track in music right now than Two Steps, Twice – a genuinely euphoric, chant-fuelled, roof-raiser of a track that sees Yannis run around Alexandra Palace as it soars. Olympic Airways and Red Socks Pugie cause a similar stir, while this reviewer was overjoyed on discovering halfway through The French Open that the song was actually penned as an ode to American tennis star Andy Roddick. The mathy sounds of that inaugural record still remain their finest guitar work to date.
The grandiose stage set-up and the fair-weather – we all heard My Number on Match Of The Day 2 – fans are definitely in attendance, but on the whole the atmosphere is one of victory. “Last time we were here we supported Bloc Party,” Yannis informs the throng. How fortunes change.
The set feels like it had at least three or four more tracks in it for a gig of this size, but considering Disclosure are here in a few weeks what was delivered was a full and rounded amalgamation of why this band are where they are. We wait eagerly to see where they can go from here.
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Words: Thomas Frost
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