When Dave Grohl stands before you on stage and asks, “Do you love rock and roll?” that has to be rhetorical, right?!
When he follows it with, “Do you want some rock ’n’ roll?” and the next sound heard above the roar of the crowd is the opening of “All My Life”, you know you’re in for a ride.
So, you strap yourself in. Get comfy. This might start at 8pm, but it definitely isn’t a tucked-up-in-bed-by-10 kind of night. Foo Fighters are here for three hours so if you didn’t visit the bathroom before finding your spot, well… good luck.
The stadium isn’t full, likely a sign of the times rather than a reflection of who is playing, but you’d barely know it. Those who came, came to sing. As Grohl sums it up neatly: “We’re here because we f*cking love live music.”
A set-list that marks a lifetime
Whether tonight is your first Foo Fighters show or your 20th, chances are you know the words to most of the 26-song set. On the giant screens flanking the stage, fans are caught singing along like their lives depend on it. Perhaps, for some, they have. Songs like “Learn to Fly”, “Times Like These” and “My Hero” aren’t just Foo Fighters songs anymore. They’re markers of time, attached to people, places and chapters of their lives.
But it isn’t all milestone bangers. There are treats for what Dave likes to call the “old-school mother*ckers” too, like “Stacked Actors” and “No Son of Mine”, the latter even sliding into a little Motörhead. When it’s time for band introductions, things become a trip through the Foos’ collective musical history, each member getting their moment through snippets from their former bands: Chris Shiflett’s No Use for a Name, Nate Mendel’s Sunny Day Real Estate, Rami Jaffee’s The Wallflowers and the incredible (and adorable!) Pat Smear’s The Germs. Finally, Ilan Rubin steps out from behind the kit for The New Regime’s “Tap Dancing in a Minefield”, leaving Grohl to reclaim the drums gleefully. Rubin has taken the hot seat in a band with an incredible drumming legacy and, in this reviewer’s opinion, he fits right in.
The B-stage
After an hour or so (who watches the clock at these things?), an acoustic section pulls the show inward. Moving along the runway, the band settles into a smaller, lounge-like set-up that suddenly makes this enormous stadium feel a little more intimate. Noticing a skirmish in the crowd, the set is paused and an improvised “Stairway to Heaven” floats through the air as security moves in to help an injured person. For most, it may have been the first, and last, time they’ll hear Led Zep live!
Just as rare is “Marigold”, written by Grohl in his early 20s and released as a B-side to Nirvana’s “Heart-Shaped Box” single. And somehow, amid this stadium rock spectacular, we get Thomas.
Thomas has brought Mentos. This is significant because Foo Fighters’ “Big Me” video famously featured a Mentos parody, something that resulted in the band often being pelted with the mints when playing the song live. Spotting him, Grohl makes Thomas promise not to throw them and instead challenges him to finish the packet before the song ends. Cue the cameras and a very confident Thomas confirming he is up for it. What follows is two minutes and 12 seconds of close-ups of increasingly minty, contorted facial expressions.
But he does it.
What happens next, though… ever seen the experiment where you put Mentos in a bottle of Coke? Now imagine eating an entire packet and then chugging a Coors Lite. Thomas is later spotted proudly watching the show from backstage, so we know he’s ok. But did anyone call in a welfare check?
Ballad of the Beaconsfield Miners
Then comes the night’s most poignant moment, “Ballad of the Beaconsfield Miners”. During the 14 days miners Todd Russell and Brant Webb spent trapped underground, among their requests were water and an iPod loaded with Foo Fighters songs. Later that year, Grohl met the pair at the Sydney Opera House and played them an instrumental he had written for them just the night before.
Twenty years later, on the day news broke of Russell’s death, that same piece of music takes on even greater weight. “I’ve met a few heroes in my life,” Grohl reflects before dedicating the song to him. Alone with his acoustic guitar, in a stadium suddenly feeling much smaller, he plays. It’s beautiful.
Seven minutes left
Then it’s back to business. There’s “Aurora”, played for Taylor Hawkins followed by “Best of You”. Then the ole encore. “According to our clock, we have seven minutes left,” Grohl announces. “What can we accomplish in seven minutes?” One word. “Everlong”.
After nearly three hours, Sydney somehow finds enough left in the tank to scream every last word “if everything could ever feel this real forever”. Because, as a wise man said right at the beginning, we f*cking love live music. Since their inception in 1994 Foo Fighters have played in Australia 16 times. Pretty sure we are already looking forward to making it lucky number 17!
Foo Fighters support Australian music and have chosen some of our finest live acts to share their stage. At Accor Stadium, TEENS and The Belair Lip Bombs, and you can catch legends C.O.F.F.I.N and The Buoys at McDonald Jones Stadium, Newcastle this evening, 12 November.
The Australia leg of the tour concludes in Adelaide on Tuesday 17 November before the Foos head to New Zealand. All tour details and ticket sales can be found here on the Frontier website.
FIVE STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Image credit: Pete Dovgan – you can see more of Pete’s photos from the night HERE
