Foals

So now that Foals have rapidly progressed to playing theatres, it seems due time - all too quickly - to reassess what Foals are about. Are they grand schemers in the best hidden traditions of Bloc Party, behind whose skronk always lay a beating heart that craved mass acceptance? Or another folly of innovation which exceeded its status? Regardless of how commendably well the band are doing now, there lie bigger questions about how they will set themselves in the long term.

Given the swaying masses crammed in to the Astoria tonight, there can be no doubt as to the current popular perception of the quintet; Foals are a party band, a celebratory act, albeit an odd one. As the high-fretted bells of ‘The French Open’ peal out, the crowd frug in unison. Difficult band? Compelling, more like. Confidently dropping ‘Cassius’ early on in the set reveals grandiose confidence in their forthcoming album and its impending success. Throughout the 50-minute set, the Oxfordians maintain a tempo and delivery that is nigh-on relentless, barely acknowledging the ever-morphing glutinous crowd shape in front of them, save for a bigging-up of support act Youthmovies** and to indicate that this is ‘the best show we’ve ever played’. ‘Balloons’, ‘Hummer’ and ‘Two Steps, Twice’ whizz by and are lapped up by a party-readied crowd.