I confess I’m a little jaded after seeing the Foo Fighters (an up and coming beat combo) at an intimate (ha) gig at the old Trafford cricket ground in Manchester. But here are some thoughts…
I saw the Foo Fighters 29 years ago on their first ever tour at the Brixton academy, when people like me just wanted to support Nirvana’s goofy drummer, who had formed a band for fun. At the time, aged 26 I felt like the oldest person in the crowd that night in Brixton Academy and probably was. How things have changed. I felt the youngest this time and I’m now 55.
It was pissing down and a cricket ground has no cover so it was attritional and cold, really cold. Ironically the last time I was at an outdoor gig when it rained I was watching, um Nirvana at Reading in 1991.
As noted, The audience was celebratory and quite old. I saw walking sticks and bald patches. And I forgot that that was probably me as well. To me, I’m always 27 when at gigs.
Grohl is a very funny guy. Even if their songs were shit (and they’re not, obvs) I could listen to Grohl telling stories for two hours. He’s got a few, I bet.
Grohl must be the sweariest eloquent man of all time. His first ‘yo Manchester!’ shout had 10 fucks, fuckings or motherfuckers. It was great.
The contrast between this foul mouthed talk, it must be noted there isn’t a single swear word in the lyrics, and always remember how intimate and vulnerable the lyrics often are.
Now the critics would say Foo Fighters are not a metal band, not heavy enough for the that crowd, but are wayyy too heavy to be a middle of the road rock band. This is true, but they can screech as well as any metal band, and they can do acoustic numbers like a regular act. What critics don’t understand is that Dave is a punk rock guy, he just loves all rock music and plays what he wants. It’s perhaps why I’ve not seen Foo Fighters for 30 years – I associated them too much with that youthful ‘ooh rock concert, radio 1 aren’t they brilliant best band ever’ young persons idea of a rock band. But that wasn’t Dave’s fault. He just played songs to massive amounts of people. What’s that great line from his first stadium gig at Wembley 15 years ago. “How, the fuck did we get this big?”. They are and always will be Dave Grohl’s fun- to-be-in band that he did after Nirvana, the bad that stopped him become a drummer for hire and that has kept them real.
Obviously they are one of the all time great rock bands and have a RIDICULOUS amount of bangers, so I’m a little a little hoarse today.
There was a nice acoustic section in the middle. Grohl played a new tune and was blown away when people sang along. ‘I just fucking wrote it’
They played every song I wanted to hear except Long Road to Ruin (which always makes my heart sing). Any band that can kick off a set with Monkey Wrench and Learn to Fly are pretty confident they’ve got this gig in the bag.
Number of times there were tears in my eyes – four
I guess what makes the Foo Fighters great to me was the 3 minute ‘introduce the band’ segment – lead guitarist noodles insanely for three minutes: Grohl – ‘he’s like the fucking professional the rest of us are just making it up’; keyboard player does this insane spacey keyboard stuff: Grohl ‘how the fuck does that fit in with our stuff man’. The bass player who riffs the Beastie Boys’ Sabotage bass riff and they launch into it with Grohl screaming ‘I don’t know the fuckjng words’ and then ‘the legendary Pat Smear’ who riffs the Ramones’ Blitzkrieg Bop (hey ho, let’s go) and they launch into that). Then the new drummer gets the biggest round of applause (tears in the eyes no 3) and because he was in Devo (Devo – Dave no-one in England except me have heard of Devo) they play some Devo and because he was in Nine Inch Nails they play some Nine Inch Nails and that was insane because Nine Inch Nails were insane. And Grohl doesn’t even introduce himself. But that’s Dave’s band: half his old pals goofing around, half superb musicians and he sees himself as crap. Yet, as you know, he is arguably the best rock drummer ever (yes, arguably led zeppelin fans) and doesn’t play drums in his own band. The guy is in a league of his own.
But that’s the thing about Dave Grohl. I know we are the same age to the day. I know we both spun out of the punk scene and edged onto rock. I know the punk scene he came out of and its mentality. Nirvana had no right to be that good or that famous. It’s all just wrong. But American punks have a goofy quality and no filter, so they will love Devo and Queen and other stuff English folk get snobby about. It’s just rock and roll man. He is the one big hero alive in my life right now.
And they had a great audience On the way back I was trying to explain to my wife how different audiences had been for the last four or so stadium gigs I’ve seen – Stone Roses – stoned and mellow (honestly it was beautiful man), Rolling Stones – awe, the Killers – slightly scary out to party and have a good time crowd, Foo Fighters – tremendous love and affection for Dave.
Taylor Hawkins’ ghost was there all the time. Not talked about, but you can’t hear songs like times like these and my hero and more obscure songs like under you which just seemed to be for him. The new drummer got a huge round of applause of course and then Grohl played Aurora, Taylor’s favourite song (‘and we’re always gonna fuckin play it).
For those in the know (and those who are not) it’s unsurprising but still a fact that watching the Foo fighters means you get to cheekily see 50% of the final Nirvana touring line up. The legendary Pat Smear who must be the smiliest man in rock has been in the Foo Fighters (first tour) then out and back in for the last twenty years or so. It’s as close as you’re going to get these days.
2.5 hours set man!!
It was great basically. But there was a euphoric sadness as we drove home. Manchester on a good drive is but 1 hour and 16 minutes away from Home . But as I drove, Like Alexander the Great, as he surveyed the world and realised there were no more worlds to conquer, who else can I see? As a man whose life was spent watching rock bands seriously, who else is there to see? The old bands are really old or dead, the newer bands are old. There’s no young bands worth seeing if you like a rock back beat. The ones I missed AC/DC, prime fleetwood mac are gone forever. I’d like to see the cure again, pearl Jam are a big goal for me. Regretting not going to Springsteen but had committed to the Foos this year. Is it over for me and concerts?
The musings of Ray Dexter 