Foster The People Secret Show @ The Peak -- 05/31/11

It was a year ago, almost to the day, when The Peak put on their first Secret Show with Mumford & Sons. It was at a restaurant patio in Yaletown on a Sunday, and thousands of people showed up, blocking of streets with the cops even being called. (Here is a time lapse video of the insanity).
This year they picked another hot, up and coming band, Foster The People and, like last year, they only announced the location two hours before the show, and only through the interwebs and social media; facebook, twitter and email.
It ended up being at The Peak itself, with the band playing on a balcony and the crowd filling the street below. Even though it was 1pm on a weekday (the only time the band could do it before their sold out show tonight) at least a few hundred people packed the street to catch the show. Many of which were younger fans. When Mark Foster asked how many peopled skipped work to show up, there was mild applause. When he asked how many skipped school... many shrill screams.

Despite the rain, the crowd was really enthusiastic about the short acoustic set. They started off with "Houdini", and their sound translated really well for the acoustic set. After a couple more, they ended with a slowed down version of their big hit, "Pumped Up Kicks", which kicked off lots of dancing and some singing along. After the set they promised to come down to meet everyone, and while I didn't stick around to find out, I believe they did come down to meet people and sign things for quite some time.

While it was pretty cool show, personally I don't think it quite lived up to the first year. Having the band play on the balcony was cool (and makes way more sense logistically) but it lost a bit of the intimacy and impact of having the band right there. Mind you, when you set the bar with someone like Mumford and Sons, it's going to be hard to top. It was still really fun, and complaining about a free show put on with a band like Foster the People is just insane. If they can keep getting bands like this, I really hope The Peak is able to make this an annual event.