About a week prior to his band’s show this past Friday at the Joint, Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl announced that the group would be taking an indefinite hiatus following the conclusion of their latest tour; other than appearances at the Austin City Limits festival and an upcoming Southern California benefit, then, the Joint gig was the Foos’ last for potentially a very long time.
And if that’s the case, the band went out in style. Mixing plenty of hits with a wide range of album tracks, they ran the gamut of their nearly 15-year career over the course of almost two hours. They dug out songs they hadn’t performed live in some time, and generally seemed to be having a blast, keeping the energy high throughout the evening.
The Details
Grohl was his usual jovial self, joking about how much better the show was than the previous night’s (also at the Joint), encouraging enthusiastic sing-alongs and even detailing the horrors of being pelted with Mentos during past performances of “Big Me.” Thankfully audiences are over that (“We’re all grown-ups now, right?” Grohl asked), and the Foos were able to deliver a lovely rendition of the song as part of their encore.
Other highlights included the entire crowd boosting Grohl on his mostly solo version of “Everlong”; a strong opener in the rarely played “Aurora”; and bassist Chris Squire of Yes, of all people, joining the band for “Cold Day in the Sun.” Augmented from time to time by four backing musicians (including former Foos guitarist Pat Smear), Grohl & Co. sounded tight and powerful, even if a handful of songs did go on longer than necessary (the lengthy drum solo in the middle of “Stacked Actors” was especially uncalled-for). As either a farewell or just another stop on a long journey, the show delivered exactly what was needed.
Previous Discussion: