Foster the People @ The Complex 09.05 with Palm Springsteen

Lines at The Complex stretched hundreds of feet down the street and around the corner toward The Gateway. The electronic indie-pop group Foster the People had hundreds of eager fans standing in formation in the lasting summer sun to catch their live performance. Waves of teens, couples and friends mad their way through security wands and ticket lines into the main entrance, where they are greeted with a choice of grabbing a T-shirt, heading to the bar area or racing to the stage area to the front of house and getting the best views possible.

As each room begins to fill and most of the early crowd has settled in, guest musical group Palm Springsteen saunters onstage, greets the audience and begins to play. With tracks full of energy and reminiscent of 1980s electro-pop-infused punk, Palm Springsteen mix in a variety of drums, synth, keyboard and a healthy dose of reverberating vocals into a great, dance-y time for the crowd.

After Palm Springsteen’s set, the audience became restless during the wait and began to clap in unison. Shortly after, as though by magic, Foster the People began to take the stage. One by one, members grab their instruments, and through a thin layer of fog, they approached the front as the lights flickered and voices squealed from the sea of faces below.

Playing hits from their first album, Torches, and mixing in other tracks from their second Supermodel and newly released Sacred Hearts Club, any ear in the room could easily tell the changing influences from piece to piece, ranging from an arguably light, poppy, electronic tone to an almost industrial, more bass-infused and even hip-hop-inspired sound. As Mark Foster danced in the smoke as strobe lights fire, Mark Pontius hammered the addictive beats in the rear and Sean Cimino and Isom Innis took turns at sides of the stage, seamlessly providing supporting instrumental harmony. Every single face in the room was smiling, singing or screaming.

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