Passionate about pop
Brixton Academy is packed, the cheers start and Mark Foster excitedly leads his band into the first song of their performance, ‘Houdini’. Taking to the keyboard, he blasts out the song in his wonderfully smooth voice while fellow band members give it all, shaking tambourines and smashing out great drum beats.
The Los Angeles trio have grown in popularity since releasing last year’s summer hit ‘Pumped up Kicks’. Last year they had just announced dates at Shepherd’s Bush Empire and a year later they’re gracing the big stage at Brixton Academy, not just once but three times. Both ticket and album sales are huge and the fact that they’re just real nice guys makes it seem well deserved.
The charming Mark Foster gets the crowd going jumping about the stage, switching from playing keyboards to assisting on the drums then back to taking centre stage singing. It almost seems like his daily workout, star jumping across the stage and strutting about with his hands in the air to ‘Miss You’.
‘Don’t Stop’ gets the whole crowd whistling, something which I doubt Brixton gets very much, and ‘Call It What You Want’ prompts a mass sing-along with arms in the air thanks to its plays on Radio One.
There’s something quite shy about Foster who used to work making jingles. He only speaks once to the crowd to say “Hello London. Beautiful London.” The rest of the night is left for the songs to do the talking.
As if there wasn’t a big enough party atmosphere, foam bubbles shower the crowd showing the band really do mean business.
Songs such as ‘Waste’ aren’t as well recognised by the audience, but that doesn’t change the fact that they are great pop songs with meaningful lyrics. ‘Waste’ documents the complications of loving someone who is suffering. Speaking of meaningful lyrics it’s time for the end of the set.
And of course there’s no other way to end the night than the hit that put them where they are today. As soon as the intro starts, the cameras are out, the crowd are cheering and everyone’s heads are bopping. It’s hard to remember that this is a song about a kid plotting revenge.
Halfway through, the song turns into a clubbing mix with Mark Foster putting his nerdy dancing into action to keep the momentum going before jumping into the audience pleasing some of the hardcore fans on the front row. The end nears and the crowd are showered with gold tickertape. The band say their final goodbye and the night draws to a close.
Retrospectively, the night was a great pop show by and band who are really passionate about what they do, but it seems that their touring schedule has outgrown their material. Hopefully after their appearances at some of the biggest summer festivals they’ll be back in the studio ready to make some more great pop tunes. And of course we’ll be waiting.
Words and photo by Sophie Williams
Click here for a photo gallery of the gig.
The Los Angeles trio have grown in popularity since releasing last year’s summer hit ‘Pumped up Kicks’. Last year they had just announced dates at Shepherd’s Bush Empire and a year later they’re gracing the big stage at Brixton Academy, not just once but three times. Both ticket and album sales are huge and the fact that they’re just real nice guys makes it seem well deserved.
The charming Mark Foster gets the crowd going jumping about the stage, switching from playing keyboards to assisting on the drums then back to taking centre stage singing. It almost seems like his daily workout, star jumping across the stage and strutting about with his hands in the air to ‘Miss You’.
‘Don’t Stop’ gets the whole crowd whistling, something which I doubt Brixton gets very much, and ‘Call It What You Want’ prompts a mass sing-along with arms in the air thanks to its plays on Radio One.
There’s something quite shy about Foster who used to work making jingles. He only speaks once to the crowd to say “Hello London. Beautiful London.” The rest of the night is left for the songs to do the talking.
As if there wasn’t a big enough party atmosphere, foam bubbles shower the crowd showing the band really do mean business.
Songs such as ‘Waste’ aren’t as well recognised by the audience, but that doesn’t change the fact that they are great pop songs with meaningful lyrics. ‘Waste’ documents the complications of loving someone who is suffering. Speaking of meaningful lyrics it’s time for the end of the set.
And of course there’s no other way to end the night than the hit that put them where they are today. As soon as the intro starts, the cameras are out, the crowd are cheering and everyone’s heads are bopping. It’s hard to remember that this is a song about a kid plotting revenge.
Halfway through, the song turns into a clubbing mix with Mark Foster putting his nerdy dancing into action to keep the momentum going before jumping into the audience pleasing some of the hardcore fans on the front row. The end nears and the crowd are showered with gold tickertape. The band say their final goodbye and the night draws to a close.
Retrospectively, the night was a great pop show by and band who are really passionate about what they do, but it seems that their touring schedule has outgrown their material. Hopefully after their appearances at some of the biggest summer festivals they’ll be back in the studio ready to make some more great pop tunes. And of course we’ll be waiting.
Words and photo by Sophie Williams
Click here for a photo gallery of the gig.
