Amid all this talk about indie sleaze, there’s woefully little nostalgia for the exuberant indie pop of the late aughts and early 2010s. Think back: which bands played on your Pandora radio stations or soundtracked your favorite FIFA game circa 2011? Passion Pit, Grouplove, Two Door Cinema Club? What about Foster the People?
“Exuberant” might seem like a strange modifier for a group best known for “Pumped Up Kicks”—famously, the song is about a kid who brings a gun to school and shoots his dripped-out classmates. Yet there’s a reason the track got so much airtime despite its disturbing subject matter: it’s supremely catchy (which is perhaps unsurprising, considering it was penned while lead singer and lyricist Mark Foster was working as a commercial jingle writer).
What’s more, an optimistic streak surges through most of the group’s lyrics, which include odes to nonconformity (“Call It What You Want”), musings from the perspective of a mischievous four-year-old (“Don’t Stop”), and straight-up love songs (“I Would Do Anything for You,” “Imagination,” and “Lamb’s Wool,” to list but a few). More sobering topics are approached with a spiritual sense of purpose. After all, the band’s very name is a mishearing of “Foster and the People” that lead singer Mark Foster ran with because he liked the idea of uplifting the masses. And indeed, spirits were high when the group took the stage at the Roxy last Wednesday.
This was no routine performance. The show marked the band’s return to the West Coast for the first time since 2021, when they played the album Torches front to back for its 10-year anniversary. This time around, they were sharing new music — namely, songs from the then-upcoming, now available 2024 comeback LP Paradise State of Mind (yes, it’s been seven years since “Sit Next to Me,” the hit single from their previous album Sacred Hearts Club, took over the radio waves). Their recent material’s celestial grooves blended well with the anthemic choruses of older tracks, producing a set list of “greatest hits” that everyone could get down to.
The party started with “Feed Me” and “Lost in Space,” disco-inflected tracks from the new album. However much Foster sang about “floating and drifting,” “turning through the sky just looking for a sign,” he was clearly an experienced pilot. Every move he made — throwing his arms heavenward, singling out an audience member and staring soulfully into their eyes — demonstrated his finesse as a veteran front man. “Helena Beat,” another misleadingly catchy track inspired by Foster’s experience with L.A. drug culture as a scrappy teen, followed. Thankfully, those dark days appear even farther in his rear window than when the song came out in 2011, but he sang as if they were lurking right behind him.
Fans were eager to dance and emote in equal measure. “Call It What You Want” was a major crowd-pleaser; it was hard to see the stage with all the hands waving in the air. Ballads “Coming of Age” (from the 2014 album Supermodel) and “Imagination” (a 2019 single) incited heartfelt sing-alongs. Ultimately, “Houdini” and “Miss You” proved to be two of the night’s most transcendent performances: as Foster pounded on the keys, the crowd mirrored his pulsing movements. That’s not to exclude the new stuff: “Sometimes I Wanna Be Bad” was particularly memorable, boasting a horn section that prompted one burly audience member to bellow, “Who’s the saxophone player? Fuck yeah!”
Of course, the guys closed out the show with “Sit Next to Me” and “Pumped Up Kicks.” I mean it as a compliment when I say the band’s signature song didn’t trigger any seismic shift in excitement. We were already pumped up, in a collective state of mind that could only be described as — well, paradisiacal.
