Foo Fighters review – beloved rockers thunder back from trauma with thrilling intensity | Foo Fighters

Just over two years after the shattering and premature loss of life of drummer Taylor Hawkins left them going through trauma and turmoil, Foo Fighters ship a two-and-a-half-hour-plus masterclass in the best way to put the present again on the street. “Do y’all love rock’n’roll music?” yells Dave Grohl as Monkey Wrench begins proceedings with a stage of depth they preserve all evening. “In instances like these you study to dwell once more,” he sings a number of moments later, the track’s prolonged voice and guitar intro emphasising the lyric’s further poignancy.

Onstage, the band’s togetherness and chemistry appears as sturdy as ever, probably extra so. Regardless of the gray skies and early downpours, the moist and windswept frontman places all the things into his vocals whereas stage proper, rhythm guitarist Pat Smear – who first performed with Grohl in Nirvana – nonetheless beams from ear to ear like he has the most effective job on the planet. Earlier than Aurora, their late bandmate’s favorite track, the singer reveals they nonetheless “inform Taylor Hawkins tales all day”.

The climate and wind sometimes have an effect on the sound and make for dreadful situations to see a band, however 55-year-old Grohl appears to have uncanny meteorological powers. “I made it fuckin’ cease,” he yells when the deluge ceases, to roars of laughter, and the showers certainly maintain off. In the meantime, a 24-song setlist brings hits and curveballs together with the unreleased Unconditional. Throughout the first ever solo acoustic efficiency of Underneath You, seemingly about Hawkins, Grohl appears to be like momentarily overcome and may’t face the road: “That is how I’ll at all times image you.”

All through, a delicate stream of melancholy is most evidenced in gentler songs resembling a beautiful Statues and a chic, singalong My Hero, though All My Life, Stroll and Better of You rage as arduous as ever. Few drummers may step into Hawkins’ appreciable boots when it comes to vitality and showmanship, however former Devo and 9 Inch Nails man Josh Freese does it with aplomb. There’s a beautiful second when Grohl introduces him, the group applaud his efforts and somebody holds up an indication studying: “Thanks for saving our band.”