All words, videos, and photos by Haley Plotkin.
“I wore my Illuminati shirt tonight because I knew I was coming to DC. Maybe I’ll get indicted or something.” – Mark Foster
Let me just start by saying I caught Foster the People twice during SXSW, and out of the forty-four shows I saw, they were definitely one of my favorites that crazy week. So when I noticed that they were going to play a tiny show at Red Palace not too long after, I knew it would probably be my last chance to see them rock a tiny club venue before they made it big.
With my witty friend in tow (who was popping his “indie music cherry” that night, as he called it), we were the first ones there at the venue on Monday night. I am nothing if not competitive about being front and center at a gig.
Unfortunately for poor We Barbarians, not many more people other than us arrived in time to hear them. I think everyone thought the show was supposed to start at 9pm, so when We Barbarians went on at 8:30pm, it caused most people to miss their nice little set. Having only heard their song “Headspace” before, I was quite excited to listen to some more material from them. While I was buying my 7” at the merch stand between acts, one of the members mentioned to me that they will be spending a bit of the summer in the studio, so I am definitely looking forward to their pending album.
Grouplove was the icing on the cake for me at this show. I admit I may have listened to their EP about 15 times on repeat last weekend, absolutely loving the tracks “Gold Coast” and “Colours.” Watching them with their country hippie tendencies reminded me a bit of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, and just as fun live, too. The moments when vocalist Hannah Cooper put on her silver mask were a nice touch.
Finally came Foster the People, the California indie rock triplet made of Mark Foster on vocals, keyboard, and guitar, Mark Pontius on drums, and Cubbie Fink on bass and vocals. Fun fact: Foster’s favorite artist is Little Dragon. He is really, really in love with Little Dragon.
But anyways, from the first song in, they did not disappoint. Several songs during the set, including the catchy “Husslin’,” turned into dance parties that made the whole Red Palace bounce. As the finale of their tour, the members of Grouplove and We Barbarians were grooving in the crowd as well—at one point, one of them even threw a towel at the stage, those party animals. The best moment of the show though, came during the encore, when all three bands stormed the stage for superjam craziness:
Overall, I cannot wait to watch Foster the People grow into bigger venues over the course of the next year. I will be seeing them at Outside Lands and Lollapalooza (though the latter isn’t officially confirmed yet, but Mark Pontius said so, shhhh), and back home in Austin at Emo’s in July, which has already sold out, ah!
With how big a hit “Pumped Up Kicks” has become, I can only imagine the insane popularity that will follow them once their album is finally released in May. Until next time, boys!
