Caught Live: Foals, Dublin

It will be with no small degree of trepidation when this gig-hungry hippo ventures Foals' way again after seeing them straddle brilliance and farce in equal measure on Thursday night in Dublin's Ambassador.

A gig, played in front of a two-tier underage/overage layout -with the ground floor jammed with impressively-excited teens and upstairs reserved for ID-wielding bar-going "adults"-created a strange atmosphere with shrieks of delight and chants from down below dominating. Foals' previous visits to these shores had created a buzz of anticipation and the crowd demanded their arrival with haphazard noise and wayward energy that only teenagers can muster.

The band's arrival did little to dispel these high hopes. They opened with a lyric-less wall of noise that screeched and wailed in tight harmony. It boded well. Sideways glances were exchanged. Optimistic eye brows were raised. That they sound good cannot be questioned. However, despite an impressive opening and enjoyable continuation, the band, like the crowd, let this haphazard energy take control and lost their tight focus. When crowd began to mosh and surf, the band's floppy fringes flipped and flopped while they kicked and stropped.

Singer Yannis Philippakis performance overshadowed the band. At times, he excelled. He clambered and stood atop the oversized speakers (presumably resisting the urge to declare himself a golden god) and undertook one of the more impressive stage dives I've witnessed. However, his boundless energy caused him to do the most foolish of things. He kicked over his drum in a pique of "attitude", forgetting he'd have to use it later on. When this time came and the drum failed to stay solid, he threw a strop, indicative of the very worst traits of small men. He broke his mike, threw it to the floor and grabbed another just as quick and as sharp as the riffs they play. This, unsurprisingly, he broke too. A roadie's life on a Foals' tour is no life at all.

With their live show, some bands have the ability to either add or highlight a new dimension to their sound, Foals, on this occasion, passed up this opportunity. The silliness did not make them sound any worse. However neither did it make them sound any better. Their album, Antidotes, is a fine album and one which is well served when played live. However, I fear Yannis is not the servile type.