Sorry for being a killjoy, because it was in fact a really enjoyable and generally well-played concert. I guess it's just because I had expected something else. I had expected to enjoy and fully devour the comely guitar patterns of '2 Trees', the ease and airiness of 'Olympic Airways', the furious tightness and wit of 'After Glow', and enjoy five extraordinarily creative and skilled musicians. It seemed however that Foals' agenda was for everyone to jump around like crazy. At all possible times, the band's signature strong endings, outros and bridges were sacrificed for menacing and scrappy amok. The tight and vital rhythm section was much too loud, and often completely overpowered the little finesses from the guitarists that make both Foals' albums such enjoyable listens. Drummer Jack Bevan is normally credited with carrying a heavy load of Foals' euphony, which is completely true, just listen to tunes like 'Two Steps, Twice' or the aforementioned 'After Glow', but it seemed like he much too often resorted to simplifying his game, and applying steadfast disco-oohntz beats whenever possible, such as the outro of 'Red Socks Pugie', which normally is of a much dozier nature. Or the end of inevitable highlight 'Spanish Sahara', where the post-climactic blissfulness was sacrificed for yet more of the same unimaginative beats.
Of course, it was still good, and the music is often lovely, but I do think Foals sacrificed a big load of finesse and euphony for having the first four-five rows of audience jumping around like karrazzee. Sometimes it seemed that the prevailing mantra for the band was "as loud as possible", which seems quite unimaginative for a band of unquestionable musical skill. It was good, and it was a party, but it could have been so much more interesting.
