Foster the People

“Pumped Up Kicks” was one of 2011’s biggest surprise smash hits; its ubiquity proved to be a star-making turn for Los Angeles songwriter Mark Foster and his band, who went on to record a gold-selling debut with top producers Paul Epworth and Greg Kurstin and perform alongside the Beach Boys at this years’ Grammy Awards. The furor over “Pumped Up Kicks” has finally died down, which I see as a good thing, because now some deserving attention can be paid to the band’s other singles, like “Helena Beat” and “Houdini,” fresh, great pop songs which have the benefit of being just as catchy and not as ambiguously violent as “Pumped Up Kicks.” Opening this tour is another pop performer poised to make it big, the dynamic New Zealand vocalist Kimbra, with whom Foster collaborated earlier this year on the snazzy one-off “Warrior.” With Mayer Hawthorne & The County. ERIN K. THOMPSON

Tue., June 26, 8 p.m., 2012