Foals Academy

To end what was a horrid couple of weeks with an amazing gig by Foals at the Carling Academy, I found myself forgetting every bit of shit that's happened recently.

To begin the night, we stood in line for more than an hour in the cold (according to Pill) and in the rain, and a bit of a starter from Kebab Kid next door.
We were third in line as a group. So the queue was well worth it. We got front row for fuck's sake.
The two supporting bands, Jonquil and Youthmovies were a bit of a pick and mix. Jonquil was amazing. They sound much better than they do on myspace and throughout their whole show they used at least ten different instruments. Aside from the usual guitar, bass and drums, they also used an accordion, a flute, a cello, a sampler, a violin, and instruments I didn't even know existed.

Youthmovies was, well... Hmmm... It was a total riot of course. But the music was well shit. They were having a really bad day. But to take it out on the crowd, just botching up their songs that sounded like they had real potential to be great tunes, was unprofessional. It was so bad that when the guitarist 'lent' his guitar to the crowd for them to play, it sounded no different to when they were actually playing.

But then Foals descended upon us.

With an amazing opening tune, XXXXX, which is essentially a tuning up that's gone completely out of control and out of this world. Watching a band tune up has never been this awesome. Then they played 'The French Open,' and the whole crowd erupted into a frenzy. Instead of appreciative applauses the whole floor jumps with every beat.

This is an attempt to record 'Heavy Water' with Pill's phone. The quality of the video ain't amazing. But here you go anyway.


In the middle of 'Electric Bloom,' Yannis, the vocalist, was getting mental in the instrumental, climbing up the amplifiers and then going to the back of the stage for a run-up that will end up with him jumping onto us, the crowd. Yes, the fucking vocalist landed right on top of us, almost breaking Pill's finger and leaving it swollen. But hell, it was amazing.

We had to fight for our place in the front row, resisting every push and every crazed fan that wanted to squeeze in. It was a proper battle.

Yet it was exhilarating. The whole gig was one massive high from start to finish.

Next, Glamour Of The Kill.

Signing out

Over and out