Had Mercury-Prize nominees, Foals, not changed their sound so drastically between their debut and their sophomore effort, it’d be easy to write a simple review of how math rock and dance punk music translate well to a teen audience in a general admission venue. Thankfully, Foals made that too difficult for me. While keeping true to their math rock roots, the English quintet brought an eclectic set to an eclectic crowd at Boston’s Paradise Rock Club, where they maintained a perfect balance between their latest, more mature effort, Total Life Forever, and their thrashing, heavier debut, Antidotes.

Opening with a back-and forth syncopation of guitar harmonics from frontman Yannis Philippakis and his taller, lankier guitar counterpart Jimmy Smith, “Blue Blood” presented to the crowd a first taste of how Total Life Forever translates live. As the bass, drums, and keys kicked into the song’s main riff, everyone came off surprised. It’s too easy to draw comparisons between any island-esque sound to bands like Vampire Weekend, but Foals’ carries a distinct sound.  Even though stating the album lacked funk, there was definitely an abundance of funk on-stage. Mobile members of the bands bounced and bobbed with the rhythms of the newer, tropical sounding songs such as “Miami”.

The setlist flowed wonderfully as well, second to “Blue Blood” came title track “Total Life Forever”, a great blend of the old and new sound. With a soft, closed-eye delivery of the opening verses, Yannis showed his prowess as a vocalist while playing pretty complex guitar riffs. When the bridge came around, the sound in the Paradise erupted, hitting the venue with a wall of groove. To add on, Yannis, complete with a blank expression, barreled into the crowd during an added outro jam session.

Another clear highlight arrived with “Spanish Sahara”, potentially the most unique Foals song to date. The entire song acts as one giant crescendo; in other words, a great seven minute buildup that employs their musicality and emotion. Drummer Jack Bevan shines here and works off the band’s math rock roots, pummeling away, almost calculatingly, before the remainder of the song explodes. Altogether, the guitars, bass, drums, and keys buid up in a perfectly smooth fashion before the outtro. On stage, it becomes a loud wall of sound that just slaughters the ears.

Foals ended the set with a phenomenal performance of “Electric Bloom”.  Philippakis dropped his guitar and picked up two drum sticks to beat the shit out of a floor tom. The trend of wowing crowds with one extra element of percussion may be just that, a trend, but in Foals’ case it worked. Philippakis wandered the stage, climbed amps, and surveyed the crowd while the bass and drums repeated a vamp before the outtro. To their credit, Philippakis and Bevan ended the set with an amazing, tribal-like drum jam, sweat and testosterone irradiating through the air.

Foals left the stage for a hot second, as a roadie stood up the microphones and amps that had been knocked over in Philippakis’ rage, only to return shortly and nail two old tracks. “The French Open” began with a reggae-like rhythm before kicking into full gear with the Boston crowd singing along to the French lyrics. Given it was highly requested throughout the night, “Two Steps Twice” went off well.  As if the chanting and jamming weren’t enough to solidify this as a great show closer, Philippakis climbed to the balcony as everyone in the crowd lost sight of the stage to look behind them as he performed quite the trick.  From the balcony, he handed his guitar down to a fan as he jumped about 12 feet off the balcony, onto the bar, and then ran back onto the stage to finish the tune.

No frills rock, honest stage antics, and a good blend of new and old sounds made for a phenomenal show at the Paradise. Climactic crescendos, tight jams, and enthusiastic chanting established Foals as a multi-talented band with an excellent live show that definitely makes one unsure if they want to go home and replay Antidotes or Total Life Forever. How about both?

Setlist:
Blue Blood
Total Life Forever
Cassius
Olympic Airways
Miami
Balloons
Afterglow
Two Trees
Spanish Sahara
Red Socks Pugie
Electric Bloom
Encore:
The French Open
Two Steps Twice