I don’t really need to write an article about how good Foals are live. They’ve won awards for it. It was this guarantee of a fantastic gig (combined with Friday night Wahoo) that led me to drunkenly set my alarm for the optimistically (and arrogantly) early 7.30am on Saturday morning in preparation for the 10am release of tickets for Foals’ surprise homecoming gig. I sleep fitfully, plagued by Foals-ticket-disaster related nightmares. I arrive outside the O2 at 8.15am, and two hours later swagger away from the box office with tickets. I cycle back to college with extra caution. I tell my sister of my great achievement. “Voles?” she replies. I tell Joel Mann, Cherwell News Editor, and get the more positive response of “I hate you.” Yeah you do. In the upstairs room of the O2, the limited floor space meant more intimacy and more sweat. Plus, there weren’t that many tall people. Result.
One of the reasons Foals work so well as a live act is that they can showcase to the full their‘build-up-to-stripped-back-instrumental’ formula almost to the point of absurdity. they expand this, giving time for Yannis to go for a stage dive if he fancies (which he does, three times). Everyone surges forward to try and get a touch, myself included, and I totally get a touch of tattooed bicep. I’m confused about what I do with this hand now. Lick it? Wipe it on my jeans? Wipe it on the person next to me’s jeans? I temporarily go for this option before discovering that the person next to me is Phoebe From Made In Chelsea.
Halfway through Yannis thanks the crowd and tells us that all their songs were written here, in Oxford. This gets an appreciative woop from the audience, but then again so has everything else he’s said. During Spanish Sahara, a group in the middle of the crowd sit down and everyone else follows suit, and I’m thinking what a delightful way this is of creating a Spanish-Sahara-emotive ambiance. Like we’re being told off by our favourite teacher, Yannis shushes some hecklers singing ‘Sit Down if you hate City’ and I’m a bit confused. Things quieten down enough to make such a lush environment, the 14-year old couple in front of me start snogging, it’s that atmospheric.
The highlight comes at the end of the set with Inhaler, where I start jumping and moshing along during the chorus, and then realize two bars in that it’s a bit too slow to sustain so make the awkward transition from manic jumping to a slower, nonchalant groove, which I feel comes off well. During the encore Yannis has a cigarette, and then it’s all over. As they leave the stage, each band member approaches the mic, thanks us and tells us they love us. The feeling’s mutual.
