There were ample reasons to hate Foster the People at the Fine Line on Saturday night: The Los Angeles dance-pop band has become a sensation pretty close to overnight; its music is derivative of MGMT, Scissor Sisters, Passion Pit and other recent happy-together, synth-addled acts; and there's so little guitar work in the group, one wonders if there's a tuner anywhere amid the road cases.
Most annoyingly of all, Foster the People's members look like the angular-faced, pretty-boy actors from "Gossip Girl." Seriously, how long is it before namesake frontman Mark Foster, 27, crosses over to movies, television or at least Calvin Klein ads?
It might take longer than expected for Foster the People's buzz to fade, though. The most ecstatic point of Saturday's 50-minute concert -- yes, that's all, folks -- was unsurprisingly the group's current hit single, "Pumped Up Kicks" (300,000 iTunes purchases and counting). But there were better songs that that, and plenty more times the band had the young crowd singing and dancing like prom kids grooving to "Can't Touch This."
An aromatic, ruthlessly catchy, whistling-accompanied single that should have Peter, Bjorn & John's lawyers frothing at the mouth, "Pumped Up Kicks" came 10 songs into Saturday's 12-number show. Elbows in the elbow-to-elbow crowd suddenly became dangerous weapons. Foster suddenly became just one of 600 people struggling to sing on pitch. It was the kind of hyper and hyper-predictable scene that keeps one-hit-wonders in business for a decade.
There were many more crowd-pleasers earlier in the concert, though. The second song of the set, "Miss You," was the first of several tunes to feature dueling percussionists, which helped add texture to the sometimes flimsy, mousse-haired dance beats heard on FTP's three-week-old debut album, "Torches." Two songs later, Foster sat at the piano and showed more tender songwriting chops in "Waste."
The best song came right before "Pumped Up Kicks," a slower, moodier track called "Houdini." The five-piece band extended "Houdini" into a longer jam reminiscent of New Order's "Bizarre Love Triangle." Foster certainly has a tight unit behind him -- although no amount of musicality could enliven '80s-tainted pop drivel like "I Would Do Anything For You" and the first of two encore songs, "Helena Beat."
One more reason to not hate Foster for the People after Saturday's show: Mark Foster spoke fondly of his band's much punier gig with little fanfare two months earlier at 7th Street Entry. How quickly things can change.
See FTP's set list at startribune.com/artcetera
