Foo Fighters / Serj Tankian

I was looking forward to hearing System Of A Down front man Serj Tankian flying solo tonight, having heard his contribution to the album ‘Axis Of Justice’. Unfortunately the crowd are not up for the political grunts he is giving out willy nilly, and his songs (‘The Unthinking Majority’) just do not work the crowd up at all.



Only his new single ‘Empty Walls’ gets any feedback from the crowd, which is a shame as with a backing band and his distinct vocal style this could have been a close contender to filling in the gap left by SOAD. Let’s hope the rest of the tour goes well.

Blasting into a heavier version of ‘Let It Die’, the Foos are here to prove once again that they rock. This was followed by an equally heavier take on ‘The Pretender’, showing that the album may showcase the songs but it’s live where they come into their own.



Songs from all six album’s are here; being an old school fan I would have liked some more oldies (especially with the welcome addition of old member Pat Smear back to help out with the new tracks), but to my delight they play ‘Wattershed’, which immediately singles out the old fans from the newbies (there are quite a few looks of confusion present with this raw and hard as fuck track).

‘Times Like These’, ‘Breakout’ and ‘Monkey Wrench’ follow, all played precisely how they should be at a show. Dave Grohl has a few moments running down the long centre platform to the back of the arena, so that nobody feels left out. Midway through the set a circular stage descends to join the edge of this runway, already housing a drum kit and microphones.

To the delight of those standing and sitting at the back of the huge space we now get a close and intimate show, as it is time for some acoustic tracks, including slow versions of ‘Everlong’ (which Grohl usually performs on his own) and ‘My Hero’. He is impressed that he can get 10,000 plus people to shout “Holy Shit!” at the female violinist who accompanies them onstage. A huge but nice shock for me is the addition of Grohl’s first publicly released solo track ‘Marigold’, from the ‘Heart Shaped Box’ single.



This show really is for all fans, at whatever level you joined the Foo’s following. New rocking songs and acoustic numbers for those who have just come across them, the hits from across the musical board for the long-standing members and the odd ditty for us ancient owners of the self-titled album, where Grohl was a one man band.

Taking us into the encore is a little video showing the funny musicians outside, debiting over the Sheffield set list. Grohl teases the crowd, gradually adding on the number of tracks left to play. The sight of them being allowed outside to smoke must be painful for the smokers here (the public are not allowed re-entry to the venue), but a classic shot of Taylor Hawkins with a cig up his nose is funny.

Tankian joins them onstage to play a cover of the Dead Kennedy’s ‘Hotel Cambodia’, before the loudest sing-a-long to ‘Best Of You’ brings this excellent show to a close. I have seen the Foo Fighters several times, and this is easily the best I have seen them perform.

FUTURE GIGS

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