Are people getting a bit over excited?
There are plenty of moments at festivals, where a band rides into town, or tent, on the back of a big reputation, and many an intrigued music fan stick their head round the tent entrance to see what all the fuss is about. There are also those moments, be it at festivals or anywhere else, when you start to realise you're watching a band, that fit in well with a current music fashion, but sadly don't seem to be doing anything that stands them out from the crowd.
I'm not enough of a nu-rave or current alternative dance scene aficionado to know where Foals rank in the popularity league with those that live for this style of music, but to me they just seem a bit average. Sure there's energy by the bucket load, the band play a Gwen Stefani cover that gets a good reaction, plus crowd favourites like 'Mathletics' and 'Hummer' get those in the know dancing, but plenty more in the Carling Tent are just watching on, or planning their next move.
There were promising moments though, at one point their beats fueled rock was drifting towards a Specials comparison. The disappointing part was that there were no killer, memorable hooks in the vocal department to make me study the gig listing pages of magazines or online to find out when they next hit a venue in London. This was a classic case of a solid set that would please those who were already into a band, but that does nothing to suggest they'll return in 2008 with a greatly elevated stage slot. That said, if the hype continues anything's possible.