Foster The People are at the tail end of their hugely successful US tour, selling out many of the venues after their enourmous rise to popularity over the past few months. They just performed on Saturday Night Live, and headed back to their home to play two sold-out gigs at The Wiltern in Los Angeles. I attended their show on October 15th, with opening acts Reptar and Cults. It was my fourth time seeing them, and they have only improved since the first time I saw them.

Reptar started off the night with upbeat, danceable tunes off of their EP. Their frontman came onstage in cut-off jeans shorts and no shoes, which is indicative of the carefree attitude of the band as a whole. Their enthusiasm energized the audience and soothed the anticipation for the main act. Cults mellowed out the crowd a bit with their laid back music, playing tracks off of their debut self-titled album. They were in no way boring, but they created a relaxed atmosphere and undoubtly gained fans after their performance.

Foster The People took the stage soon after, and opened their set with a drum intro to their song “Houdini”. They have truly grown to hold their own as musicians, and the confidence they have gained as performers is palpable. Singer/guitarist Mark Foster has made the transition from an ambitious but restrained performer to an energetic and captivating frontman. Rather than play their album tracks as they sound in the studio recordings, they have developed live versions of their songs that allow for more of an experience for the audience. The light show was captivating, and songs such as “Miss You”, “I Would Do Anything for You”, and “Call It What You Want” had the crowd singing along enthusiastically. “Helena Beat” always gets a huge response (a video of the performance is linked in the setlist), and they were joined by Reptar for their hit “Pumped Up Kicks”, which became a huge dance party when the band played the remix version of the song. Foster The People have owned up to the massive attention they’ve received and have proved that they are more than one-hit wonders; their live shows are proof of this.

The setlist went as follows:
1. Houdini
2. Miss You
3. Life On The Nickel
4. I Would Do Anything For You
5. Broken Jaw
6. Waste
7. Call It What You Want
8. Don’t Stop (Color on the Walls)
9. Helena Beat – Video
Encore:
10. Warrant
11. Pumped Up Kicks

For the full set of photos from the night, click HERE
See their performances of Pumped Up Kicks and Houdini (with Kenny G) on SNL