Foxing Farewell Show at Thalia Hall
Foxing took to the stage at Chicago's Thalia Hall for night one of their farewell shows before indefinite hiatus.
Foxing was ambling around the stage setting up their instruments in an expansive Thalia Hall on Wednesday night in Chicago. It wasn’t dissimilar to the other times I’ve seen Foxing in smaller clubs like The Grog Shop in Cleveland. As a fan, you see them well before their performance, but you’re holding your excitement for their actual emergence to the stage. You suspend disbelief that you haven’t already seen the band when they disappear for a few minutes before the lights go down for real and they take the stage to play their set. It’s emblematic of exactly where Foxing are in their career as they play their final shows before an indefinite hiatus.
Foxing is a successful band by almost any measure, certainly artistically. The material and the passionate fanbase speak for themselves, but they are seemingly not big enough to remove the stress and exhaustion of carrying on two lives. Or maybe that’s not it at all. Foxing has spoken a lot about their hiatus, but there’s no silver bullet that tells us exactly why after one of their bigger opening slots on a national tour with Coheed and Cambria and Taking Back Sunday, that this is the moment to take a break.
Generally speaking, we know how the industry works. Bigger bands get to write music, tour, and then go home to start the artistic process all over again. Smaller bands have to grind away at day jobs that allow them to be citizens while they burn the other end of the candle trying to create their best art. Foxing got big enough to sell out four shows, creating an indefinite scarcity, but maybe not big enough for their natural, everyday scarcity to allow them to live comfortably as full-time artists. Or again, maybe that’s not it at all and the creation of their latest record just burned out all the fuel for now.
But we were here for the show and maybe to get some clues.
When the lights went down, it wasn’t the ovation I expected; instead, it built throughout an emotional night. They opened the night like they opened The Albatross with “Bloodhound,” “The Inuit,” and “The Medic.” The crowd couldn’t have been more receptive to a callback to the 10th anniversary tour of The Albatross that Foxing did as a co-headliner with The Hotelier.
“Slapstick” broke up the streak before Foxing gave a nod to Dealer with “Glass Coughs” and “Eiffel.” It was an emotional high for the show, and then things started to feel more like a celebration, because “Grand Paradise” will have that effect. I maintain that “Grand Paradise” is one of the greatest set opening songs I’ve ever seen. The first three times I saw Foxing, they opened their sets that way, every time as an opener for Manchester Orchestra. It’s a song that puts an electricity into the room. The crowd at Thalia Hall was into the show from the very beginning, but it got just a little bit more as a friendly mosh pit opened and some crowd surfers started to get passed to the front.
The rest of the show had more of a celebratory vibe as the band and the audience once again suspended disbelief that this was one of the last times we’d all be together, at least for a very long while. The band honestly didn’t sound like they would be away forever, but we’re all left to wonder what that means. Does that mean occasional reunion shows with no new material? Could we get smaller, more manageable chunks of artistic output in the way of EPs and small tours?
Judging by the number of cameras in the hall on Wednesday night, it seems pretty likely that we’ll at least get one last live album and concert video out of the band. So, if you couldn’t travel or don’t live in Chicago or St. Louis, you’re probably going to get a chance to experience these moments in some format in the future.
In the end, Foxing spoke generously about their love for each other, their gratitude for their fans, and just how exhausted they are as a band. I don’t want you to think it wasn’t an incredible and joyous night of music, because it was. But considering the context, you can’t help but focus on Conor Murphy talking to the audience about the final track from their latest record, “Cry Baby.” As the band emerged from backstage to play an encore, he seemed to straddle the line between seriousness and joke when he said, “Well, this is unexpected.” He got very serious after, speaking directly of “Cry Baby.” He said that the song isn’t “the reason” for the hiatus, but it’s emblematic of how exhausted they were as a band. It was a gorgeous rendition, but the words smacked in ways they never have.
If I could I’d start over again
It’s been fun but I’d change everything
But there’s you smiling when I come home
Yeah there’s you on the other side of the phone
So now I
I shut it down and lock it up
Full Setlist:
Bloodhound
Inuit
The Medic
The Magdalene
Slapstick
Glass Coughs
Eiffel
Grand Paradise
Gameshark
Draw Down the Moon
Lich Prince
Won’t Drown
Hell 99
Trapped in Dillard’s (Live debut)
Beacons
Greyhound
Hall of Frozen Heads
Encore:
Cry Baby
Rory
Nearer My God