Foals Live at The Digbeth Arena review.

In 2019 Foals are undeniably one of the few rock bands to have really made an impact over the past decade. Forging a style of their own, mixing the complex math rock of their breakout debut 'Antidotes with the muscular rock 'n roll of their more recent records. Now with a top 5 album under their belt in 'Everything not saved will be lost Part 1' (part 2 will be out later this year) I felt privileged to get a chance to finally see them at the Digbeth arena. Both shows sold out almost immediately and the converted open warehouse space still made for a relatively intimate space to see Foals in.  

I dragged a friend along ti the show who, unfamiliar with Foals and their output asked me to describe them in one world. I decided to settle on 'tropical'. It's hard for me to pin down why,  but Foals just seem suited for hot sweltering temperatures and sunlight. 

The same can be said for first support act KIEV (6/10). A Californian group whose blissful indie rock can best be described as Foals-ish. The real treat for me was to catch YAK (7.6) fora second time after their wonderfully chaotic show at The Castle and Falcon back in March. Unfortunately YAK's brilliant mix of psychdelic rock, krautrock and just plain noisyness was lost on a largely disintersted crowd. YAK may slay the smaller clubs but it may be some time until they are ready to do the same for arenas.

FOALS on the other hand had the audience in the palm of their hand. Riding high of the previous sold out Birmingham show. Frontman Yannis remarked on more than one occasion how much he loved the Birmingham crowd, praising us for drinking on a Sunday and not giving a shit about our jobs, as well; as the vibe of the urban graffiti covered arena. It was definitely fitting that Foals had chosen to return to Birmingham for these shows as their sound clearly had an influence on the nascent Digbeth based 'B-Town' scene. Birmingham also provided the site for one of their legendary early shows at the nearby Sunflower Lounge. However Yannis no longer seems to spend Foals gigs climbing up walls and assaulting security guards as in 2019 Foals are a well (snake) oiled machine. Delivering a setlist full of 'nasty little rippers' such as 'On the Luna', 'My Number', 'Mountain at my gates', and bringing out older favourites such as 'Olympic Airwaves', 'Red Socks Pugie'. All of which just seemed to be warming up for an incredible 'Inhaler' which was followed by a quick new number 'Black Bull'. A new track in the vein of heavy rockers such as 'What went down' which bodes well for the next record. 'What went down' itself was a highlight but Foals saved the best for last. Taking an old favourite 'Two steps twice' and stretching out out and building up tension for what seemed like an eternity, asking the crowd to kneel down before finally getting to the songs maddeningly catchy chorus. Ending a crowd pleasing set of indie rock bangers on a delirious high. (8.8)