Concorde2, 16th March

The NME thought that the tennis-loving Foals were the stars of last year’s SXSW, and as the US music showcase gets underway again, this year could see the band really take off.

Publicity for the math rock five-piece has been a bit of a mixed bag. They seem to be the official band for hit Channel 4 show ‘Skins’, and thumbs up for that. Yet, I’m told that murderous David Platt from Corrie has recently been outed as a fan, even adorning himself with a band t-shirt in a recent episode, a definite thumbs down.

David Platt wasn’t in the audience at the crowded Concorde2, but unsurprisingly, plenty of equally youthful teens were. The band performed in a house party on ‘Skins’ because that’s what they used to do as soon as they’d finished on a ‘proper’ stage. The front of the crowd began to sway and push each other as soon as they kicked off with ‘Hummer’, before speedily heading into new single ‘Cassius’. Foals were joined by a brass section comprising of the trumpet player from support band Youth Movies and a saxophonist who apparently was previously in No Comply .

Foals were Brighton residents for a short time, paying rent on Lewes Road until they realised they were gigging too much to actually live there. As lead singer Yannis acknowledges, the Concorde2 gig is a bit of a homecoming for them, and the sell out crowd proved as much, even on a Sunday! Much-loved tracks like ‘Balloons’ featured alongside material from ‘Antidotes’, their long awaited debut album released last month.

In a far cry from earlier performances, Gwen Stefani fan Yannis seems to have developed a newly-found confidence as a lead singer, chatting to the audience and even jumping on speakers. XYZ will watch with interest to see whether this Oxford band will reach the same level of pop success as the ex-No Doubt singer.

Words by Andrea Fox
Photos by Sam Hiscox