Foals at the Royal Albert Hall: 28/03/13

Hey all,

So I thought I'd write up a quick post about my day yesterday, as it was very impromptu and really fun! A couple of days ago my friend texted asking if I wanted a free ticket to go see Foals live, and of course I said yes. They're also headlining Latitude Festival, and as I may well be going to that too, this was a great excuse to get into them properly before the festival.

I'd heard 'Cassius' from their first album loads before, as well as 'My Number' more recently, but I hadn't really listened to any of their other music. They were being supported by Efterklang, too, another band who are playing Latitude Festival, so it was definitely worth going to see them.

For 3.30 on a Thursday afternoon, the Royal Albert Hall was surprisingly packed. I don't think (festivals excluded) I've ever gone to a 'Matinee' Concert, which felt a little bizarre but in the end it didn't make much of a difference (And we probably got to watch them when they were slightly less tired, which is a plus-side). I'd never been to the Royal Albert Hall before, and on the inside, it seemed a lot smaller than the huge stadium-size venue I'd been expecting. However, the acoustics in that room were incredible. We were sitting at the front of the seated-section, behind the standing area and the techno-geeks with their laptops, but we could still hear everything as clearly as if we had been right up at the front.

Efterklang were really good, I hadn't heard of them before, but they're clearly making a name for themselves in the indie circles, and quite rightly. I think the highlight of their set for me was the final song, called 'Modern Drift' where Katinka and Casper synchronised vocals, and harmonised over the top of one another. I found a video via YouTube, if any of you would like to watch:

I can confidently say I'm looking forward to seeing them again at Latitude. They were really sweet, smooth and their music worked fantastically in the Royal Albert, where the acoustic was ten times the level of any other venue I've ever been to. Katinka's operatic backing vocals sounded incredible in the Albert Hall.

Foals, too, were great. I recognised more songs than I thought I knew, highlights being 'Inhaler', which they played during the encore, and 'My Number' which they played after their first song to get the crowd going. I was hoping they'd play 'Cassius', a favourite from about four years ago but sadly they didn't. However, it was a great gig altogether, and the Royal Albert was the last place I expected to watch anyone crowd-surfing. But Yannis managed it, clearly not satisfied with staying put in one place for too long, and there was a moment where he surged into the seating area, had a bit of a skip around and then fought his way back to the front. I'm not sure the RAH is the most rock-and-roll place to do that, but each to their own.

Foals, musically were really really great. I'd never expected their sound to carry so well, but I can now completely see why they've been made headliners for Latitude 2013. They have a sound that could easily fill a whole stadium, coupled with light and laser shows to rival Muse. I can't wait to see them again in July!

That's all for now, more art updates soon hopefully!

Annie

xx