Foals headlined an evening of musicaldreamscaping on Sunday, December 11th.

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Foals

The Agora

Cleveland, OH 12/11/2022

by Michelle Wateres

On Sunday evening, the Cleveland Agora hosted three musical acts that, while not necessarily
connected in vibe, made for an unforgettable show. While the Agora is a smaller venue (holding
around 2,000 people), much of the main floor (at least for this night) was standing-only. It felt
cozy, and was easy to catch a good view of the stage. Didn’t want to stand all night? There
was plenty of seating in the balcony.

…Have you ever experienced twilight sleep for an operation? I did once, and it was a
wonderful experience. I went in, not fully sure what to expect, and left feeling warm and fuzzy,
and on the mend. Imagine this in musical form. This is the closest comparison I can make for
what I took in.

The night consisted of three acts: Tampa, Florida’s Glove, California’s Inner Wave, and the
U.K.’s Foals. All three bands technically fall under the same blanket genre of Alt/Indie, but
that’s truly where the comparison stopped for me. The only way I can really connect the flow of
the night in my mind is through the comparison twilight sleep.

The night began with Glove. If you find yourself wanting to relive your goth roots, or have been
craving a new collection of goth hits to slowly sway along to, Glove may be your answer.
Through dramatic red spotlights on on point new wave fashion style, the 4-member team can
send you back to the days when all black was a way of life. Who am I kidding-that’s still my
closet. Their tone was low but dramatic, and made me feel like I’d drifted back in time-as if in a
dream of my college days-without missing a single beat. Drummer Brie Denicourt was
particularly mesmerizing, as she played drums standing near the front of the stage, for most of
their set.

LA’s Inner Wave continued that dreamy vibe, for me. The tone was a bit more optimistic, but
was still low-key-like being lost in the middle of a daydream on a hazy summer day. I found
myself smiling a lot while they were playing, and the 9 song set went quickly. Among the songs
played were Estrella, One in a Million, Rose, and one of their biggest hits, Diamond Eyes,
closed out their set.

When Foals took the stage, it was like a dream where it starts to rain, and then you find out it’s
raining in real life. You find out it’s raining in real life, because everyone around you starts to
dance and wakes you up. And when everyone around you starts dancing and jumping up and
downed laughing and smiling because the band their listening to is just making them so happy
they can’t contain themselves, this is Foals, and what they do.
I’d never been to a Foals concert, but I know a lot of people who like them, and now I can see
why. While their music is really good, it’s also (at least for me, and obviously for a lot of the
people who attended the concert) really alive. It was hard to be there and not smile. I left that
night with a huge smile on my face, not really knowing why. Except that I felt really alive, and
really awake.

It’s not every day that the headlining band asks the photographers to shoot that LAST three
songs of the set, instead of the first three. Usually we run into the photo pit, snap up the first
three songs and then by the time the band and audience are getting warmed up, we get
“kicked out”. If I’m staying for the whole set because I’m writing a review anyway, why not let
me jump in at the end when I’m fully in love with the performance? Highly recommend this
option, and only wish I could do it more often.  
As I was sitting up in the balcony watching the beginning and middle of the Foals set, watching
more and more people who lost control and jumped from their seats to wave their arms in the
air or just nod their heads all over the place, I saw a woman who was so happy, she was
bouncing. She turned around to apologize for blocking the view of the attendees behind her,
and they laughed, waved to say “no problem”, and then proceeded to join in the dancing. This
was the tone that Foals set, and this was/is Foals.  
Foals frontman Yannis Philippakis (who the band is name after with his Greek surname
meaning “Love/Like Horse”), has a commanding presence-but not in a tyrant kind of way. In
fact, the band as a whole had fantastic chemistry, and truly seemed they were having a
wonderful time performing, right down to their last note together. No, Phillipakis managed to
bring the crowd into unanimous joy, taking in the songs and the engaging performance (which
included walking through the crowd while playing guitar, multiple times, encouraging clapping
along, and unforceably convincing everyone to have a great time).

Foals’ 16 song setlist for the evening kicked off with new songs Wake Me Up, 2001 , and
(summer sky), and ebbed and flowed through My Number, Black Gold, Birch Tree and The
Runner before sharing another new song, 2am. Also played during the set were In Degrees,
Spanish Sahara, Red Socks Pugie, Providence, Snake Oil and Mountain at My Gates, before
coming back for an encore which included energetic favorite Inhaler, and powerhouse Two
Steps, Twice, which concluded with Yannis plugging away at his distorted guitar, down on his
knees as a final goodbye. It was a great performance that left everyone wanting more.
If Foals are the warm fuzzy feeling you get when waking up from a dream state, I’d say it has
about as much to do with the the music and the band themselves, as it does the fans they’ve
built-like happy children-who just want you to wake up and play. No mistakes made, I was
awake and there for it