I spent a night with the Foo Fighters at the monstrous O2 on Saturday and could not have asked for better company. Serj Tankian (System of a Down singer) was the opening act, dressed in top hat and coat and singing songs from his new album Elect the Dead in his normal neurotic manner.
After a swift stage set up, Dave Grohl and his band took to the stage with a burst of applause from the sold out arena, and with his usual charisma, got the audience beaming with a promise of a long show. ‘None of this one hour and 15 minutes crap’, he told us.
The show had a few things you don’t normally see – a full two hour set, a triangle player solo – oh and a feature with Brian May and Robin Taylor from Queen. Dave was a demon, belting out tracks from their first album to their most recent, feeding the audience with everything they’d come to see as the base reverberated in your throat.
At one point he ran out into the catwalk to the middle of the crowd, and a circular stage was lowered. His band joined him, including his triangle player and a violinist, and there they played - surrounded by fans on all sides - acoustic greats like Everlong.
The show ended with a camera following the team backstage as we awaited the inevitable encore, and we haggled with the members of the band for how many more songs they would do. As four became five with the compulsory send off with Best Of You, it was clear that this band enjoyed the concert as much as the audience did. And it got me thinking that maybe Foo Fighters is as big as Nirvana was, Dave Grohl being an essential component to both.
After attending other concerts where bands push their new stuff, moving away from the older, more popular tunes, I’ve felt a bit disgruntled at not seeing and hearing what I’d paid for. So a night out with the Foo Fighters was more than a pleasure.
Here's a sneak peak:
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