Storms didn’t prevent a packed house at Cincinnati’s Bogart’s on Tuesday, May 10th as Foals, Joywave and Silversun Pickups offered up a highly complementary, high-energy bill.
Full disclosure, the weather and an earlier-than-expected start time meant that we missed out on Joywave’s set. For what it’s worth, the energized crowd didn’t seem disappointed with what they had seen upon our arrival. Sorry, Joywave. We fucked up.

Foals’ Yannis Philippakis Gets Up Close and Personal with the Crowd
The Oxford five-piece bounced through dancy favorites of new and old, including “Olympic Airways,” “Red Socks Pugie” and “My Number” before launching into the grittier side of their catalog.
Foals is one of those bands whose songs just have to be a blast to play live. I can’t imagine seeing a crowd’s reaction to “Inhaler” each night ever gets old. And once the first delay-drenched guitar notes of the song kicked in, you could feel a collective “hell yes” from the crowd. The What Went Down title track carried the energy through to the close with Philippakis’ strained vocal repetitions and hurricane-like swirl of guitar and organ stamping a monumental finale.

Foals Live at Bogarts
Aubert put the spotlight on coy bassist Nikki Monninger, commenting that “Nikki always gets nervous before this song” before moving into “Circadian Rhythm (Last Dance),” a track in which she features lead vocals. She played it off, endearing a crowd that erupted in a supportive chant. The band moved through catalog-spanning setlist, with old favorites “Panic Switch” and “Lazy Eye” picking things up.

Silversun Pickups Welcomes the Weirdness
At one point during the set, Aubert had mentioned seeing lightning strike a transformer outside of the venue earlier in the evening, knocking out power briefly. Luckily for us, the energy was restored.
Foals Setlist
Snake Oil
Olympic Airways
My Number
Providence
Spanish Sahara
Red Socks Pugie
Birch Tree
Mountain at My Gates
Inhaler
What Went Down
Silversun Pickups Setlist
Cradle (Better Nature)
Well Thought Out Twinkles
The Royal We
Nightlight
Circadian Rhythm (Last Dance)
The Pit
Little Lover’s So Polite
Friendly Fires
Latchkey Kids
Panic Switch
Ragamuffin
Lazy Eye
Encore
Dots and Dashes (Enough Already)
The Wild Kind