Foo Fighters
As if he'd had enough of waiting all day to play, Dave Grohl wanders onto stage by himself armed only with his weapon of choice, a guitar which in those particular hands has the capability to decimate the entire crowd. Chomping on gum and almost growling at the crowd, Grohl paces across the front of the stage looking every part the rock god that he is as the rest of the band suddenly joins him. And then it starts. "Can you hear meeeee?" Hear you? They can probably hear you all the way back in America but with those pearly whites gnashing for all to see and a demonic look in his eyes, it's wiser to just sit back and savour the moment as the Foos proceed to damage your hearing beyond repair. After all, this is what you paid for.
Ever the nicest man of rock, Grohl takes time to check that everyone is ok, including those "up in the fucking nose bleeds", before going on to say how Oasis are one of the few bands they'd ever support. Faced with an audience who look more indie then rock, Grohl lets us in on what to expect; a rough history of Foo tracks before apparently your life goes all down hill. Yes, the Foos are totally up for this gig. They're ready to make your eardrums bleed, your throat feel like sandpaper and your body ache as they proceed to hammer out hit after hit in what can only be described as a mind blowing set. 'Best of You' and 'DOA' sit alongside classics like 'Times Like These' as if they are from the same era whilst 'All My Life' transforms from a subdued, understated guitar number into an all screaming, snarling drum propelled rampage. Hey, we even get a glimpse of dancing Dave as he sways with his guitar during the verses before rocking out to the chorus. 'My Hero' and 'Learn to Fly' are relatively laid back numbers by Foo Fighters standards and both insure a stadium sing along rather than a scream off. But there's still enough growls left as an epic 'Stacked Actors' allows each band member a chance to display their expertise, leaving the audience in a silent state of wonder.
Supposedly tonight Grohl is not feeling a hundred per cent fit and opts to sing rather then scream for the next song, 'Everlong', wowing an already overjoyed and impressed crowd. If this is Grohl ill, then it's hard to imagine him fully fit. Putting everything into the set, Grohl even has time for a guitar stand off with Chris Shiflett, won incidentally by Chris to which Grohl responds with a playful shove. He even has chance to joke about with Taylor Hawkins who refuses to quit drumming resulting in Grohl giving him a stern look before breaking out in a goofy grin. Its there for all to see, a band whose guilty secret is that they actually enjoy doing this music lark, they love being on stage together, and don't tell anyone, but they actually like one another too. How refreshing not to be faced with stage fights breaking out amongst the band.
And so, in a blink of an eye the Foos hour long set comes to an end, with an audience all but collapsing in a mass heap but still prepared to go one more round with the giants of rock. For the first time all day people are starting to take off some of the layers which have acted as a barrier to the freezing cold having finally had some heat injected in them courtesy of the Foos; a band who play like they are breaking out of hell, whose lead singer portrays a look of menace as if he's about to attack but who are really just four mates fooling around together. Tonight the Foos played the role of a support act but in the end they outshone everyone and proceeded to win over the entire crowd, leaving them thirsty for more and proving that their earlier claim was true, life really is all down hill from now on. After all, how can you really top a performance like this?