We are re-running this story from 2022 as The Foo Fighters will be performing in Columbus Sunday, May 28th. It is just their third full show without Taylor Hawkins. Josh Freese will be playing drums.
Musician, author, tour manager of the stars and Watershed manager Thomas O’Keefe was nice to let us clip this story from his Facebook page. He nailed it. We inserted some videos for your enjoyment.
I watched the show a few days ago and had a few thoughts.
Full Disclosure: I have toured with the Foos in Australia, New Zealand, and South America. They were always an amazing group of people, the entire band and crew are awesome. Super nice and kind people.
1) I knew they would do a show like this. The Foos are students of rock & roll. I never would’ve predicted Taylor would pass away but once he did and everyone was guessing what the Foos would do next, I knew they would do the RIGHT thing and take an idea from their heroes.
What did QUEEN do when Freddie died? Tribute concert at Wembley. The Foo’s did the exact same thing.
2) On to the performances; I thought Wolfie Van Halen CRUSHED it when he played two VH songs with Dave and Justin from The Darkness. Why on earth would they think about getting Joe Satriani to do some VH tribute tour when Wolfie is this great? He killed it. I was shocked. I know his Dad likely taught him to play but I was still shocked.
3) Brian Johnson and Lars from Metallica did a few AC/DC songs with the Foos. I thought Lars wasn’t great. I know that's a commonly-held belief, but this proved it for me. I like Lars and I have met him a few times but he wasn’t any good at the “simple” ACDC songs. It was a treat to see Brian Johnson, and I thought he SOUNDED great but appeared to be struggling. He waved Justin from the Darkness from the side of the stage to come out and sing half of the first song (“Black in Black”). The second song, “Let There Be Rock” was a staple in the FF’s set, so that made sense.
Two observations about this segment. I can’t imagine Brian Johnson singing for two hours and I was surprised Angus wasn’t there. He lives in The Netherlands, not terribly far from London. However, it is possible he is in Sydney, where he has a home as well. In September 2016, I went to the last AC/DC show. It was in Philly. Axl Rose was singing, and it was amazing. I hope that wasn’t their last show.
4) The three-song RUSH set was great. I was thrilled to see them and for me, it was the highlight of the show. I did notice Dave played drums (as I expected him to) on the first two songs, but they switched drummers for the final song, “YYZ.” The way they effortlessly plowed through that song made me think there might be a “Lee-Lifeson” tour someday. I hope so. I will be there.
5) The QUEEN segment was outstanding as well. Glad to see both Justin from the Darkness and Luke from The Struts doing the Freddie parts.
6) McCartney was McCartney. Flawless as usual.
7) The Foos finished out the evening, rounding out their greatest hits by switching out drummers. Nandi Bushell, Josh Freese and others held down the skins admirably in a what was surely emotional situation. Speaking of emotions, there surely wasn’t a dry eye in the house when Taylor’s 16-year old son Shane took over behind the kit for a devastating performance of the Foos signature tune, “My Hero.” Wow.
Dave closed it out with a heartfelt solo version of “Everlong.”
This was a near-perfect show. Kinda the “LIVE AID” for the 2020’s. It’s so inspiring to see a rock band take the time to do the RIGHT thing. It’s easy to know the difference between Wrong and Right, the History is there. You just need to remain a student of it. Dave is the singer of one of the biggest bands on the planet, yet he is still a student.
He deserves an A+ for this one and I cannot wait for the USA version September 27th at the Fourm in LA.
Thomas O’Keefe is a musician, author and tour manager.
The set had…. FIFTY ONE SONGS!! Here are bonus clips for your enjoyment.
-