Foals' Yannis Calls For Safety At Gigs

Foals' frontman Yannis Philippakis has spoken out in support of fans' safety at gigs. The singer has appealed to fans to ensure that gigs remain a safe environment for all to enjoy. 

Philippakis recently tweeted about the behaviour of gig-goers at a recent Foals show. The musician said: "Be good to each other in the pits. No place for shady macho behaviour towards the sisters!"

He elaborated on this by speaking to DIY magazine, saying: "I think there was a girl - I'd read something - that was complaining about how she'd been treated in one of the moshpits."

"I used to love moshing, and there's an inherent aggression and violence to that type of thing that goes on at a show, particularly if it's like a circle-pit type thing. I think there's got to be some common sense."

Yannis also went on to say that: "But I have also seen, not necessarily at our own shows but just over the years, people can get sucked into those things when they really don't want to be, and I think that just having an element of compassion for people that are in the set and you can see if someone's not enjoying it or feels threatened or feels like they're getting hurt, then I think it's a small thing to say, just to say 'look our for whoever's there'.

The singer continued that: "There's an increasing awareness that maybe certain girls don't get treated like they should. There's some shady shit that goes on, and I don't like to hear about it sometimes."

Despite this, he added: "I don't want shows to be that thing where they [fans] don't feel like they can go mental. I think that the beauty of a live rock show is the crowd feeling like it can be ecstatic, and at times that's to do with moshing and that's to do with circle pits and that's to do with crowdsurfing."

"I'm all for that, but there just needs to be a balance between that and people just looking out for each other and not allowing jerk-off behaviour going on. There's a difference between a mosh-pit and just groping somebody. I think that goes without saying."

Words Lauren Wade

Foals will tour the UK in February 2016.

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