Foster The People Close High-Energy Set With Somber Dedication

Foster The People

New York – Mark Foster commanded the stage like a cult leader at Friday night’s Foster The People show at the historic United Palace. Such a grand venue was the perfect setting for the band’s brief CMJ stop. The gilded stage was populated by synths and drum sets creating a visually staggering environment within the theatre turned church and concert hall.

Visually it was an amazing show. Mark Foster stood center stage with his semi-hollow body playing to the hilt the role of the rock god. He channeled the likes of Alex Turner and Brandon Flowers, clearly having developed his showmanship since Torches. He skipped stage left to stage right amongst light boxes and clusters of glowing crystals. Eventually he would settle at his center stage mic, behind him an epilepsy-inducing light show to match Foster’s sound. The more recent songs like “Are You What You Wanna Be?” and “Coming of Age” were paired with pillars of colored light that flashed and fell across the stage. It was a fitting visual component to Foster The People’s layered sound. To translate the two records into a love setting, their debut—which was decidedly more electronic than its follow up Supermodel—was given a guitar driven edge.

Beyond the lights and sights, the band really made their presence on stage known. Since Foster the People is a relatively small band, they brought touring members aboard to fill out their act. A platform behind bassist Jacob Fink held extra keyboard/synth players and various other instrumentalists. Together the half a dozen or so musicians filled the sprawling stage. To add to this the primary drum set was Frankenstein’d together with extra floor toms and cymbals for drummer Mark Pontius and company to thwack away at from all angles. These additions gave the drum parts of old favorites like “Don’t Stop” and “Helena Beat” real presence and punch. This is an example of how Foster adapted their sound to match the grandeur of the venue.

These modifications were the best part of the show. The guitar parts of their earlier songs, which are comprised mostly of synthesizer, were pulled forward to fill out the sound. From the band’s “Pumped Up Kicks” video, you’d think their live show consisted of lots of standing behind synths merely bobbing along. Wrong. With Fink, Pontius, Foster and the touring members jamming along with reckless abandon, the performance was anything but blasé.

The high-energy show took an unexpected turn when the band re-took the stage for the encore. The band had yet to play “Pumped Up Kicks” and was presumably saving it for their last song. It is the band’s best known single, so the audience embraced Mark Foster as he walked solemnly back to his mic. After a moment he explained that due to the Marysville shooting that day he did not feel comfortable playing “that song.” Not everyone in the audience understood his reasoning or the connection to gun violence. “Pumped Up Kicks” had skyrocketed the band into mainstream, but only in interviews did the band discuss the motivation behind writing the song. In one interview with the Washington Post in 2011, Foster spoke about the nature of the song:

“Artists have always observed society and art has always been subversive, and I don’t think that’s a bad thing. The song came from a place in my heart. I was thinking about, ‘Why are kids doing this, why is this an epidemic in our country?’ Kids are getting younger and younger and bringing a gun to malls or schools or parks and killing people. What is going on in a kid’s head that goes through something like that? So I wound up going inside a kid’s head and telling a story…”

The majority of the United Palace had probably never read this or similar interviews. Nor did they know that bassist Jacob Fink’s cousin was at Columbine High School during the 1999 massacre. They silenced quietly as Foster continued somberly talking about the gun lobby and the NRA. He reminded the audience that, “We have the power to change the law.” He then asked for a moment of silence, which was broken by chants of “U-S-A! U-S-A!.” The rest of the band re-took the stage, played through a drum solo and exited. The lights came on and everyone filed out quieter than usual.

Foster The People have a handful of dates remaining on their Fall tour.
Zoe Marquedant

Zoe Marquedant

Zoe Marquedant is a Marylander now living in Brooklyn. She recently graduated from Sarah Lawrence College where she majored in Journalism and English literature. She is a freelance journalist, who primarily writes on music and culture. Her work can be seen in Boston Magazine, Highlight Magazine as well as on rsvlts.com, mxdwn.com and Baeblemusic.com. When not writing, Zoe is probably working her way through a new series on Netflix, researching new pie recipes and collecting dumb jokes (e.g. Two fish are in a tank. One turns to the other and says, "You man the guns. I’ll drive.") Follow her vain attempts at mastering social media at @zoenoumlaut
Zoe Marquedant