Review – Foals at the O2 Academy

Foals came to Liverpool’s O2 Academy last Monday as a band on top of their game, with new album Holy Fire establishing them as one of the few British guitar bands really connecting with the masses of their generation.

Playing to a sold out crowd almost entirely made up of teenagers Foals have the look of a band that know exactly what they’re doing. With increased popularity often comes diminished credibility, but Yannis and co. ride the hype perfectly in a masterful set of old favourites, interspersed with enough new material to represent their impressive progression as a band in the 3 years since sophomore album Total Life Forever.

The gig gets off to a slightly slow start, the band appearing on stage one at a time over an extended version of the instrumental ‘Prelude’ from their new album, before breaking into the mid-tempo groove of ‘Miami’ – one of only 3 tracks from Total Life Forever. For a time the audience seem like a crowd constantly on the edge of something, with sporadic groups of jumpers never really developing into anything resembling a mosh.

However, a retreat to older material with ‘Balloons’ about a third of the way through the set sees the crowd truly energised, and held masterfully so as new single ‘My Number’ follows. From here the band are unstoppable, searing through material old and new, as the audience begins to force its way closer to the stage.

Despite having something of a posh boy persona, singer Yannis Philippakis is a fierce frontman, dropping his guitar in favour of stage diving and scaling the amp systems, backed by an impressive light-show. The epic conclusion of ‘Spanish Sahara’ sees the first proper, if slightly tame, mosh pit, and leave an enthralled audience begging for more as they close the main set with early track ‘Electric Bloom’.

Returning for an encore, Foals make perhaps their only mistake of the night. With one particularly inebriated young audience member (who probably should have been asked for ID at the bar) shouting for fan favourite ‘Cassius’, with murmurs of agreement across the crowd, he’s met with a grumpy “Not gonna happen mate” from Yannis, and the encore instead begins with a lifeless rendition of ‘Moon’, the snail-paced melancholy closing track from Holy Fire.

The song, while not poor in itself, seems badly timed for a restless audience eager to get back into the fray. However all is soon forgiven as the bands heaviest moment so far in their career, ‘Inhaler’ brings the audience right back to an ecstatic level, and final track ‘Two Steps Twice’ sees the mosh pit mutate into something that might actually be capable of causing lasting damage.

Overall, with a few lulls, Foals’ live set sees a consistent blend of material old and new, and a band who know exactly what they’re doing. With a loyal and ever-growing fan base, if Foals can sustain their appeal and sheer musical ability, they have the potential truly establish themselves in the canon of truly great British indie-rock bands.

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