FOALS brought their Life is Yours tour to Music City last Wednesday. With support from Glove and Inner Wave, FOALS transformed Nashville’s Marathon Music Works into a vibrant, energetic soundscape that had the entire venue on its feet.
Glove
Glove is a Tampa, Florida-native band with influences from 80s post-punk and synth-pop beats. The four-piece group gave a unique and fun performance that made me feel like I had just stepped into a dance club in 1982.
Inner Wave
Inner Wave’s relaxed and atmospheric presence was a pleasant addition to this stacked lineup. The five-piece indie band draws influence from bands such as Arctic Monkeys and The Strokes, with whispers of soothing lo-fi interwoven within each note.
FOALS
FOALS hit the stage around 9:15 pm and immediately filled the venue with contagious energy. They woke up the crowd with the upbeat track “Wake Me Up” from the album “Life is Yours”, and immediately went into “The Runner” from their previous record “Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost – Part 2”. FOALS hit the audience with maximum energy right off the bat. They kept that intensity through the entirety of their set, even during mellow tracks like “Spanish Sahara” and “Olympic Airways”.
The band is currently touring in support of their latest record “Life is Yours”. This latest record spawned tracks such as “Wake Me Up”, “2 am”, and “2001”, which were all performed on this tour. FOALS consists of frontman and guitarist Yannis Philippakis, drummer Jack Bevan, and rhythm guitarist/keyboardist Jimmy Smith. The band also has several touring members, including Kit Monteith on percussion, Jack Freeman on bass, and Joe Price on keys.
FOALS’ stage setup was understated but definitely got the job done. The band was back-lit with color-changing neon lights spanning horizontally across the stage. There were no banners or amps with “FOALS” written across them. Simply put, FOALS’ didn’t even need to announce themselves with banners or signs. When you are at a FOALS show, you know it. Their music and presence are so distinct that they are guaranteed to leave a lasting impression on anyone who attends one of their shows.
FOALS ended their set with “Snake Oil”, “Inhaler”, and, one of my personal favorites, “Two Steps, Twice”. Just when I thought this band couldn’t get any more energetic, they once again proved otherwise by giving an incredible encore. Philippakis was seemingly everywhere all at once. He ran out into the crowd a couple of times, playing guitar for everyone who gathered around. I was grateful that I was able to photograph the last three songs. I’ve never seen a more animated and lively performance in an encore.
If you can catch FOALS on their current US headline tour, I highly recommend it. You can find tour dates here, and be sure to follow them on Instagram and Facebook.
