The 11^th February, the happy 1st birthday of the beloved ‘Holy Fire’ and Foals celebrated the anniversary by simply destroying Birmingham town at the O2 academy.

The night started with Cage The Elephant which was a significant sign of a good gig as frontman Matthew decided to crowd surf topless. Cage were only the support and done a sterling job, managing to get the crowd going with tunes such as ‘Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked’ and ‘Shake Me Down’. Cage are on their own headline tour over the coming months so I’ll be certain to catch them on that

Then, Yannis, Edwin, Walter, Jack and Jimmy appeared. Foals were here and with them the mystical sounds of ‘Prelude’ released around the arena setting the crowd up for a night to remember.

The entire gig was mental with mosh pits breaking out left, right and centre. However, they were not just any mosh pits, they were Foals mosh bits. Fists, legs and heads mosh pits. Messy mosh pits. Songs which went down well included ‘The French Open’ and ‘My Number’ causing a couple of takes to the face, all in the name of Foals.

However, despite the sweat and bloodshed there’s nothing quite as magical as seeing an entire room of alternative, indie, feather girls and boys who have just spent the past half hour brutally pushing and shoving each other to sit on the floor in total harmony to ‘Spanish Sahara’ with everyone taking in the magic and emotion of Yannis’ voice.

Finally, the encore, and with it the song everyone had been waiting for and the one that sets all hell loose, ‘Two Steps, Twice’. The electronic build up was teasing. So fierce, so exciting. Everyone knows what is going to happen as soon as the chorus kicks in. However, throughout this significantly lengthened intro, Yannis appears on the upper balcony of the 02 academy, the highest platform in the room, with the single intention to jump and take the leap of faith into a crowd of full time Foals fans. But, just as he jumped the silly old academy bouncer caught him disappointing one and all below him. Who likes a bouncer anyway? The riffs and beats filled the room, with the crowd screaming ‘ba ba da ba ba da’ and the entire room broking out into one big mosh.

It was a simply magical night with Foals living up to their Q and NME awards for ‘Best Live Act’. Nice.

Erin Brown.