Posted by Danni Le Toullec on February 11, 2011
Yannis Philippakis is the kind of frontman that security guards hate and fans anticipate. He's unpredictable, and has the kind of blatant disregard for his own safety that makes venues want to revisit liability contracts.
With his floppy Elvis-style curly hair falling across his face, he climbed the Enmore Theatre speakers and lobbed a microphone stand into the crowd. Following it swiftly with his own body. Twice. Yannis mentioned that he spent his day sussing out Sydney’s finest medical centres due to a suspected cracked rib, but clearly the show goes on.
From the opening lines of ‘Blue Blood’, Foals drew us in with a striking combination of rich, stripped back vocals and intense energy that didn’t waver once during the entire show. They smoothly transitioned into ‘Total Life Forever’, the title track off their latest album - released May 2010 and shortlisted for the 2010 Mercury Music Prize. Working with producer Luke Smith this time round, Total Life Forever sees the band experimenting with ambient soundscapes and even dabbling in a ballad or two. ‘This Orient’ and ‘After Glow’ show they are not afraid of stepping away from the slightly more upbeat sounds they were previously known for.
Songs from their debut Antidotes – ‘Cassius’, ‘Red Socks Pugie’, ‘Electric Boom’ and ‘Balloons’ complimented tracks from their follow up album surprisingly well. ‘Spanish Sahara’, the emotion stained ballad, gained the biggest cheer of the night as fans belted out each and every word.
The band launched into an instrumental jam mid-song, showcasing Yannis’ technical dexterity and ability to shred his guitar. It would be foolish to predict that their matured sound may have ostracised the Antidotes loving indie kids, as some critics have. The multitude of youngens at Foals’ Enmore Theatre all-ages gig last night certainly proved that. If anything, Total Life Forever has lured in even more fans.
What is most appealing about Foals is the unity they present on stage; each member commits to the task at hand and, as a result, they generate a contagious force. Whether it is Yannis and bassist Walter Gervers doing a headbutting guitar battle during their encore performance of ‘French Open’, or Jimmy Smiths’ tight strumming. So tight it was almost as if his guitar was fused to his body. Jack Bevan’s drumming in ‘Miami’ was flawless as he hit out sweet beats, backed by the swinging bass. It’s no surprise that the Oxford quintet became famous for gatecrashing parties. As keyboardist Edwin Congreave once admitted, “Our rules were initially done on the fly: we formed to play parties.”
Before their return to stage for the encore, Yannis growled out “I’m just getting warmed up” after scaling a 4m stack of speakers and going for a walk with his guitar around the Enmore. As they closed the gig with ‘Two Steps, Twice’, it was clear that Foals is indeed just getting started.
If you ever have a chance to see these guys live, don’t think. Just go!
foals, Yannis Philippakis, Jimmy Smith, Jack Bevan, Walter Gervers, Edwin Congreave, enmore theatre