Foals + The Neighbourhood @ The Fillmore, SF 4/11/13
Don’t call it #fauxchella, but Foals and The Neighbourhood came to rock California. Playing to San Francisco’s crowd, the pairing of bands (who will be joined by Surfer Blood at a few dates later this spring) kicked off their tour at the legendary (and sold-out) Fillmore on Thursday night.
Southern California’s The
Neighbourhood took the stage a few minutes late—probably partially due to the fact that The Owl Mag stole them away for a pre-show interview (posting soon!) — but nonetheless swaggered in with their bad selves to a rapidly filling auditorium. They had had a late soundcheck, as we had been informed earlier, and the rush through a short set had apparently resulted in some microphone and sound issues.
The band looked and sounded great, but singer Jesse Rutherford was drowned out by the instrumentals—an inexorable bummer for the atypically-talented vocalist. The result was lacking, but not to the fault of the band. Hip-hop head Rutherford bounced across alt-pop textures as he does beautifully on latest EP I’m
Sorry… and upcoming debut album I Love You, but only the first ten feet of the crowd were able to enjoy it.
After a short break, Oxford’s Foals took stage and clearly, this was why soundcheck was delayed. Basking in a deep purple brume rocking some flawless chordage and the greatest paisley shirt we have ever seen, Foals came to fucking party.
Following some crowd favorites, including a perfect performance of “My Number,” vocalist Andrew Mears paused: “SAN FRANCISCO ARE YOU FUCKING READY?” San Francisco at the time was only just kinda ready, but, after a full detour into the aggressive, finely-tuned frenzy that is “Inhaler,” everyone shimmy-shook awake and gigged all the way to snagging the iconic exclusive Fillmore-screened poster on the way out.
To check out more bad ass photos of the show, go HERE.