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Foo Fighters


JJJESUS

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As far as "The Foos" are concerned, I became a fan just a couple of weeks ago! :D I was blown away by the song "Rope". I saw their live performance of that song on Letterman and I thought : "Damn! These guys are so good! I gotta grab my copy of Wasting Light soon!" :D I really don't know how on earth I never got into their music in the first place! :blink: But, I guess it's never too late to start! B)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gEpbwlLKgg

Edited by Kiwi_Zep_Fan87
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Saw the Foo Fighters concert at the LA Forum last night(Thursday Oct. 13)...they're playing 2 nights at the Forum, tonight(Friday Oct. 14) being the second. Say what you want about the Foos, but I gotta give props to a band with enough awareness of musical history of LA to bypass the Staples Center and play the Fabulous Forum, beloved site of many rock concerts and LA Lakers NBA championship seasons!

My first Foo Fighters shows were in 1995, when they played the Roxy and the Freemason theatre in Hollywood with Mike Watt when the first Foo album came out...only Dave and Pat Smear is left from that Foo Fighters lineup. Those shows were explosive...in my mind they were better than the last Nirvana cconcert I saw. I also enjoyed that first Foo Fighters record. Also liked the second one, "The Colour, The Shape...". But when Pat Smear left, I was bummed...and then the subsequent albums sort of left me underwhelmed. They were okay...but there didn't seem to be anything ESSENTIAL about them.

Fast forward to now, and by dint of the fact that they've ENDURED for so long and their nice-guy persona, they've become massively popular without really having a massively popular album or radio hit. This is the second time they've played 2 nights at the Forum. They're kind of like AC/DC in a way...you know what you're going to get with them. There are no wildly divergent style changes with their albums and they put on loud, high energy concerts.

Actually, if it wasn't for the fact that my 16-year-old godson really wanted to see them, as well as his dad, I probably wouldn't have bothered to go to these Forum shows. Since my friend had to work, and the kid was in school, I had the task of procuring tickets yesterday in my usual fashion...get to the Forum box office early and wait for releases.

At first I thought about getting GA floor tix, but with the kid and my friend, I figured they wouldn't want to have to stand and be squished for the entire show, so I got tix right behind the stage, where we could sit and relax and watch the show with no hassle.

There were two opening bands...the first being El Mariachi Bronx or something(we missed them) and then Cage the Elephant, whose singer has a most annoying voice. I didn't recognize any of their songs, but my godson did...guess they're popular with the kids.

Cage was done at 8:35, and my godson was entertained by watching the roadies set up the Foo's stage and check the instruments. At 9:01pm, the lights went dark and the Foo Fighters took the stage. They would not leave it until 11:47pm, nearly 3 hours later!

It's the same 3-guitar lineup they've had for the past few years, as well as an occasional keyboardist, who also played an accordion during one song. Always good to see Pat Smear, who I recall from the Germs. Taylor Hawkins gets a lot of flack from other drummers I hear, and while he's no Dave Grohl, he's fun to watch in his own way. The guy is skinny and wirey as hell. I saw him last week at the Jane's Addiction show and it's funny how much older he looks in person.

They played a shitload of songs...I didn't keep a setlist...lots from the new album, and Fee Waybill from old SF band The Tubes, came out and sang backing vocals on the song he sang on from the new album. Everlong, Hero, and Learn to Fly of course were played. But only one song from the first record: This Is the Call. No X-static or Floaty unfortunately.

An amusing moment came when Dave introduced the band and asked each member what their first Forum concert was. Rush was one answer...Quiet Riot & Whitesnake was another. But the winner was Pat Smear, who saw the Rolling Stones and Stevie Wonder in 1972.

Dave had a Prince moment during the show and mentioned the 21-night stand Prince played at the Forum back in April-May of this year. They also played at least two covers that were astoundingly good: Pink Floyd's "In the Flesh" w/ Taylor Hawkins singing(the sound of all three guitars playing the riff was scintillating) and Tom Petty's "Breakdown"! My godson loves Tom Petty...in fact, his favourite concert so far was seeing Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers at the Hollywood Bowl a few years ago...so he lost his mind when the Foos broke into "Breakdown". His favourite moment of the night, he told me afterward.

After a main set of exactly 2 hours, the Foos came back and did a 7-song encore lasting about 40-45 minutes. Actually, at first only Dave came back, rising from a mini stage by the soundboard, acoustic guitar in hand. He did 3 acoustic songs, although he still sang them mostly in that gutteral growl he does...I don't see how he can sing night after night screaming like he does at his age. Then the rest of the band came back and they built to a rousing finish, with Everlong being the final song.

One little tidbit...during the preshow music before the Foo Fighters took the stage, Rush was played twice...in fact, Limelight was the last song played before the Foos took the stage.

I'm probably forgetting something...but right now, I just want to post some of the photos I took with my lousy cellphone. So don't expect Neal Peston-quality, haha.

These first ones are at the moment the lights went dark and the band was taking the stage.

Edited by Strider
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I'm taping the festival and can't wait to catch FF!

Strider, I'm a bit late but I just read your review of the LA show. That was a great review and you sound like a fabulous Godfather. For whatever reason, they didn't come to Houston on that tour and I was bummed. I love Wasting Light and can't wait until the next one...whenever that may be. Dave always seems to be busy with all kinds of different projects. I can't wait to check out his Sound City documentary.

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I'm taping the festival and can't wait to catch FF!

Strider, I'm a bit late but I just read your review of the LA show. That was a great review and you sound like a fabulous Godfather. For whatever reason, they didn't come to Houston on that tour and I was bummed. I love Wasting Light and can't wait until the next one...whenever that may be. Dave always seems to be busy with all kinds of different projects. I can't wait to check out his Sound City documentary.

Thank you Gigi. I do my best, although I must say I am most proud of the fact that I took my godson to see Jimmy Page and the Black Crowes at the Greek Theatre in 1999. He was only 4 years old and he fell asleep halfway thru...but he'll likely be the only kid in his college who can say he saw Jimmy Page play guitar in person.

Don't know what happened to the Foo Fighters photos I posted...maybe I deleted them accidentally.

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I know the week is half over, but the Foos are on Letterman every night this week. Getting ready for their new HBO series that starts Friday. Dave sat down for an interview with Dave on Monday, then did the musical number with Zac Brown:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fv5ekzTubwU

Last night, they sang with Heart:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qgdVZq1Pfk

Don't know who's going to sing with them tonight. Bill Murray in the interview guest.

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