A weird energy beset the Samsung stage in anticipation of Friday night’s headlining spot. Despite picture perfect weather and sizeable crowds all afternoon, there hovered the unmistakable air that many of the people at the front of the crowd spent most of their Friday camped out watching a band that wasn’t Radiohead.
Foals frontman Yannis Philippakis sensed it.
“Are you ready, Austin?” he shouted before diving into blazing Nineties post-metal closer “What Went Down.” Unsatisfied with the crowd’s response, he prompted again: “C’mon!”
No matter. They launched into the freewheeling face-melter anyway. The Oxford sixpiece closed the hour-long set with the same precision and energy that buoyed them from the moment they took the stage and landed them an Austin City Limits show taping on Oct. 6.
Philippakis led on both vox and guitar with aplomb, delivering intricate guitar riffs on “A Knife in the Ocean” completely buttoned-up. He guided the band through the swells of stadium rock effortlessly, all tied together with precision drumming from Jack Bevan. Even the rumbling bits designed to sound like it could all fall apart at any given moment during “Mountain at My Gates” were unconvincing only because of the flawless delivery.
If Foals’ fourth album What Went Down was convincing evidence of their transition into a festival band, this performance confirmed it. It was a noteworthy late-afternoon show the moment Foals launched into the throbbing guitar lick of “Snake Oil,” even if Philippakis isn’t Thom Yorke.
This article appears in September 30 • 2016.