In the words of frontman Yannis Philippakis, "it’s been a fucking great year for us". With the release of their Mercury-nominated third album Holy Fire, special gigs at the Royal Albert Hall, a headline festival show at Latittude and countless accolades for their live shows, you cannot argue.
And with this show, the first of two dates at London’s massive Alexandra Palace, it only confirmed the superiority of the best live British band of the moment. After a fittingly energetic warm-up set from Cage the Elephant, the stage was set for Foals. As the lights dimmed and guitarist Jimmy Smith strolled onto the stage, picking up his guitar, and heading straight into the opening riff of 'Prelude', there was no looking back.
What happened during the next 90 minutes was breathtaking. No stage is too big for Foals these days. Owning every inch of the Alexandra Palace with a set wonderfully comprised of songs from their three studio albums to date, the five-piece reached new levels of excellence throughout the exhilarating show. An airing of early release ‘Hummer’ was an absolute treat which sat wonderfully well alongside recent hit ‘My Number’ and Total Life Forever favourite ‘Blue Blood.’
Drummer Jack Bevan produced a performance of great quality throughout, orchestrating from the back of the stage he really came into his own with colossal number ‘Providence’ blowing the proverbial roof off. With a meteoric breakdown timed to absolute perfection, the howling of “I know I cannot be true, I'm an animal just like you” from Philippakis and his thousands of backing singers was the highlight of the night.
‘Late Night’ was for “all the single people out there” and as the show was coming to an end Philippakis declared to “make this a savage Valentine’s Day.” With that the thunderous riff of ‘Inhaler’ exploded into life and reverberated around the exhibition centre. The lead single from ‘Holy Fire’ was massive; a song fit for closing what had been a magnificent set. Of course Foals were not done but their encore was surprisingly exceptional. Cries of “Un peu d'air sur la terre/D'air sur la/D'air sur la/D'air sur la terre” started to get louder as ‘The French Open’ kicked into life. It was a welcome shock that they pulled on this Antidotes classic to start the encore and things only got better with final number ‘Two Steps Twice’.
Although Philippakis had predictably spent time mingling, jumping and familiarising himself with the crowd earlier in the night, this was his time to become at one with the audience. Leaving bassist Walter Gervers to lead the chorus of ‘ba ba da, ba ba da’ the build up to the big finale was somewhat extended.
When Yannis did eventually return to stage it is hard to describe it any other way: Alexandra Palace lost its shit.
The development and progression of the band is quite extraordinary, Philippakis eluded to Foals first gig in this very venue just over six years ago supporting Bloc Party. It has been very enjoyable seeing them in every corner of the country playing to various crowds of varying sizes and it felt brilliant to follow them during this journey which has gone full circle this evening.
Foals, take a bow.
