Everyone Was Dancing, Even in the Seats: Foster the People at MGM Music Hall
Walking into MGM Music Hall at 7:30 on a Tuesday night and finding it half empty is not an unusual experience. By the time Goth Babe took the stage at 8 though, it was packed wall to wall, which felt great to see for a band I started listening to in college all the way back in 2011.
Goth Babe opened, and despite my disappointment at him being neither goth nor a babe, delivered a genuinely great set. The highlight came when he split the audience down the middle for an impromptu dance competition, the stakes being a signed crock pot for the winning side and a signed banana for the losing side. The crowd was fully invested in both the prize and the bit. He warmed up a room that was ready for the main event.
When Foster the People finally took the stage, Mark Foster walked through a glowing doorway framed in warm orange light, a theatrical gesture that showed a glimpse of the production that was about to come. The staging behind him was striking throughout the night: a massive LED screen displaying retro parody advertisements, and a giant globe structure dominating the set. The visuals shifted with the music and kept the eye engaged even during songs where the band itself was relatively understated.
Foster the People doesn’t do much talking between songs. Mark Foster let the production and the set do the communicating, which worked well given how much the production had to say. What the show made clear is that this is a band with a much deeper catalog than the one song everyone knows. “Houdini” and “Call It What You Want” hit with the same energy as the encore everyone expected, and “Don’t Stop (Color on the Walls)” was my personal set highlight. It’s a song that sounds like pure joy in a live setting and got exactly the response it deserved.
The upper level at MGM Music Hall is typically a seated, watching crowd. Not Tuesday. Everyone was up and dancing from the floor to the back rows, which is one of those details that tells you something about the quality of a show that the setlist alone can’t convey. Foster made his way up into the seated sections late in the evening to dance in the crowd, a moment that closed whatever distance remained between the stage and the room.
The encore delivered what everyone was waiting for. “Sit Next to Me” built toward the inevitable, and “Pumped Up Kicks” closed the night with everyone in attendance singing along. It landed exactly as well as you’d expect it to.
FOSTER THE PEOPLE SETLIST:
Life on the Nickel
Helena Beat
Are You What You Want to Be?
Coming of Age
Lamb’s Wool
Houdini
Call It What You Want
Lost in Space
Goats in Trees
Miss You
Don’t Stop (Color on the Walls)
Lotus Eater
Pseudologia Fantastica
A Diamond to Be Born
Encore:
Sit Next to Me
Pumped Up Kicks
