THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
London Stadium, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London E20
I was surprised when my pre-Beatles generation spouse proudly declared he was a fan of Dave Grohl! "He's a cool cat," he said.
"Do you even know who he is?", I asked.
"Of course, he's been challenged to a "drum off" by a young black British 11 year old called Nandi Bushell and I'm going to watch it. She says she's planning to give him a really hard time and he's accepted! He seems a really nice guy and a really good sport". Their drum off then went viral on You Tube.
"OK smart guy" I said, "what band did Dave play the drums for 25 years ago?" Uhmmm – no idea! Nirvana – of course.
"What band does he front as the lead singer and guitarist now??" Uhmmmm – again he had no idea!! The Foo Fighters. Again – of course!!
"Can you name one song from either band???" Big Uhmmmmm!!!
My spouse is a distinguished Lord and Baron of the British Empire and is brilliant in so many ways – but in music genres since Blondie, he only knows music from me! I've been told I have perfect tonal recall – meaning I can remember a song I've heard only once twenty years ago after the opening notes – but where this gets me in the real world I have yet to figure out. I can do the dance moves with brio and if I had a semblance of a voice, I would be a rock star, but sadly people laugh or just beg me to "Stop" when I sing along loudly to whatever is playing.
Venues in the South of France are good for this as they are so crowded and usually have a DJ, so I can loudly squawk all I like and it bothers no one – and gives me an added exuberance to my dinner as I know each song immediately and celebrate!
Back to Dave Grohl.
For those of you who aren't familiar with him, he is the founder, singer/ songwriter and lead guitarist of the band Foo Fighters – now thirty years strong.
I played 'Learning to Fly' along with the official band video of Jack Black hiding marijuana in the coffee filter of a plane, with Dave playing nearly all the parts – air steward, chubby girl, pilot, and finally a rock star who successfully lands the plane as everyone else is high on pot. I love the song and my other half was extremely impressed, also with the 'Best of You'.
Anyway, a year ago when I saw the band was coming to London this summer I pounced on two tickets. After initially saying he would love to join me, my other half made a feeble excuse that he would be in France. So my son was the lucky runner up.
Dave Grohl has been through his share of tragedy. Firstly Kurt Cobain, lead singer of Nirvana, shot himself, which led Grohl to eventually form his own band and take the lead vocals and guitar. Named after a WW2 fighting unit, the 'Foofighters' were strange aerial phenomena, friendly lights that used to accompany the US 415 Night Fighter Squadron over Germany. The US bombers at the time were raining down bombs with pictures of Betty Grable on them.
For the past thirty years the 'Foos' have been selling out arenas and have amassed an impressive eleven albums, earning fifteen Grammys along the way including Best Rock Album five times. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of fame in 2021 – their first year of eligibility!
In 2015, Dave fell off the stage in Gothenburg, Sweden, in a fall that snapped his fibula, actually exposing the bone. He urged the crowd not to leave, while the local emergency room temporarily patched him up and he came back to finish the show. The rest of the tour he sat in a makeshift throne of his own design and this was renamed from The Sonic Highway Tour to The Broken Leg Tour.
A year or so ago, his best friend and musical soulmate, Foo Fighters drummer, Taylor Hawkins, who had been thought to be cured, was found before a show unresponsive due to a drug overdose. Many thought that would be the end of the band. But Dave picked himself up, found a replacement in a drummer, Josh Freese, who he'd known for twenty years and came out with a new album, But Here We Are, which gained a Grammy nomination for 'Rescue' as best rock song.
Back to the concert.
My son and I had an eagle-eyed view from the rafters and were so high up we almost needed a ladder to get to our seats, but this didn't dim the experience in any way as the acoustics were phenomenal and we could see Dave and co. (otherwise the size of ants) on the large screens.
'All my Life' started the Foo Fighters show at London Stadium promptly at 7:30 pm. No song was straight from the album – he had the crowd sing choruses alone and then with him. At one point he said, "I appreciate you all singing, but that's NOT the way the song goes" (of course I secretly knew the crowd were singing the wrong chorus!).
Dave strutted around in all black and with his guitar, the screen filled with black and white images at first, but half-way through the show became full of color. Long black hair streaming, as he tucked the sweaty locks behind his ears, he was having a blast!
The new drummer was awesome, as Josh Freese at fifty looks around thirty, with his blond locks and muscles. And in his solo, he brought the house down.
Dave gave a mention to the "girl" playing at the other end of the city that night. What a great tribute to London as a music lovers' city to have Taylor Swift breaking the attendance records at Wembley, with the Foos attracting very nearly as vast an all-sold-out crowd at the London Stadium.
He warned," Be nice, I don't want to attract the wrath of Taylor Swift" and he has sung her praises often. But he did say that, "She is playing the Eras Tour; we call ours The Errors Tour, because we play EVERY SONG LIVE!". He might have added, "...and every time, a bit differently."
All the bad language was so cheerfully expressed that it sounded inoffensive. He said that his biggest crowds and first "firsts" had happened here – in the UK! "I f---ing LOVE London", he declared, "for the past thirty years!".
Introducing his band, they all did five to ten minute solos. Shane Hawkins (Taylor's son) played brilliantly on 'My Hero' (dedicated to Taylor) and looked and sounded like his late Dad. An emotional hug with Dave caused my tear ducts to well up!!
An accordion was introduced as the intro to 'Skin and Bones' and throughout the entire song. "I've never seen an accordion at a rock concert before" said Dave "and I swore I wouldn't do it again..." It's not on the album recording.
The acoustic 'Under You' and amazing 'Monkey Wrench' had the crowd on their feet. Dave then wanted to see, after two hours of solid rock and roll, just how much noise the crowd could make. He brought his 18 year old daughter Violet, with a beautiful voice, out for 'Shame' and 'Show Me How' about his late mother. He ended this set with Taylor Hawkins favorite song, 'Aurora', which had tears running down my face.
When he played 'The Best of You' I brightened up again as it is a favorite and so upbeat. Then came 'The Teacher,' on a red double neck guitar, with Dave playing on his knees. Incredible!
The encore ended with 'Everlong' – plus a firework display – and an emotionally exhausted but jubilant audience of eighty thousand plus.
Incidentally, the Taylor Hawkins tribute concert, which is on Amazon, included the, by now, thirteen year old Nandi Bushell from the 'drum off', playing at Wembley along with a hundred of the world's most famous drummers honoring the late Foo Fighter. Along with Taylor's son Shane, it featured Queen's Roger Taylor, the Police's Stewart Copeland and Red Hot Chili Peppers' Chad Smith. Violet Grohl opened the event by singing 'Hallelujah'- not a dry eye in the house.
Back to June 22nd.
While Taylor was triumphing at Wembley, as the kings of Rock and Roll, the Foo Fighters blew the London Stadium away. I don't remember having such deep emotional reaction to a band at another concert. I have an emotional and spiritual hangover and I don't even drink!
