An Evening with the Foo Fighters

July 21st, 2008

Last night I took a group of my friends down to the Scottrade Center to see the Foo Fighters. I say I took them because about 2 months ago I got all boozed up and decided to buy four of the most expensive seats I could find. Seemed like a good idea at the time.

I’ve never really been a Foo Fighters fan and I haven’t followed their career closely so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I never had a problem with the band they were just sorta there. They were the guys with a few catchy songs and the goofy videos. Harmless at best. But then two things happened: The band released Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace which has 3 really good songs: The Pretender, Long Road to Ruin, and Let it Die and I caught their acoustic concert DVD Skin and Bones on TV. I was now a full fledged Foo fan.

I was excited to see this show. After settling into our seats around 7:15 the opening act Year Long Disaster ended it’s set within 10 minutes and Supergrass’s set was almost as short. Perfect. I wouldn’t have to put up with crappy opening bands while I waited for the real rock to start.

The place was absolutely packed and The Foo Fighters did not disappoint. They played a blistering 3 hour set. It is easy to forget how many Foo songs you’ve heard before. They really have a lot of popular tunes and they pumped through all of them including Let it Die, One by One, Big Me, All my Life, The Pretender, Learn to Fly, Breakout, My Hero, and Best of You. In the middle of the set a second stage was lowered from the rafters and the band was joined by 4 other members to play an acoustic set. This second stage was literally 30 feet in front of us and some of the highlights included Skin and Bones, Marigold, and an acoustic version of Everlong.

The show was also filled with Dave Grohl’s humorous comments such as "Stay in school kids. You don’t want to drop out like I did. I mean look what happened to me." and "You guys have to work tomorrow. Sucks for you." But the absolute best part was Grohl telling a story from when he was in Nirvana in 1991 and the band stopped at Mississippi Nights and nearly caused a riot when they invited the entire audience on stage. It’s nice when the band goes for more than just reading your city’s name off the back of a microphone stand.

This was a real rock show. It wasn’t My Chemical Romance or The Killers or whatever bullshit is passing for music these days. I would recommend everyone give the Foo Fighters another listen. They have some really good songs and put on a great live show.