Returning to North America in a post-COVID world, FOALS’ dystopian-tinged dance rock sounded better than ever as they opened their tour in Las Vegas. While touring in support of this year’s upbeat Life Is Yours, the band’s set reached back across all stages of their career and served as the perfect re-introduction of the band to American audiences. The well-balanced set highlighted the band’s ease with both concise, electronic driven funk and post-rock sprawl. Yannis Phillippakis’ guitar work throughout the night pricked and prodded the audience into multiple waves of celebration while the band’s rhythm section never wavered under each swell.
Having lost the opportunity to properly tour Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Parts 1 & 2, the band touched on both during the show with “In Degrees” and “The Runner” finding dark grooves that hypnotised the audience. The material grew brighter on new tracks like “2am” and “2001” which gave the night a sense of collective hope between the band and audience. When Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost was written, the band had no idea of just how close the world was about to come to losing everything. Back on stage in Las Vegas, the band sounded ready to face the battles ahead but also determined to have some fun along the way. The crowd bouncing along to “My Number” could not agree more.
Finishing the set with 2015’s “Mountain At My Gates”, the band retreated off stage, but unlike most concerts where an encore is all part of the act, there was a real sense that the audience was far from ready to let FOALS end the evening. Returning with a soaring “Inhaler”, the guitars reached new heights as Phillippakis pushed his voice to the breaking point. Reaching all the way back to 2008’s Antidotes, the band said goodnight with “Two Steps, Twice” capping a wildly successful first night on tour.
