Music

Life Is Beautiful: Foo Fighters close the fest with explosive energy and gratitude

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Foo Fighters at Life Is Beautiful 2014
FilmMagic

“Alright you motherf*ckers, you better dance,” said Dave Grohl, taking a breath before screaming the primal refrain of “All My Life”: “Done, done, on to the next one!”

We're talking teeth-gnashing, vein-bursting cries from the depths. Surging guitars matched the wild energy of the seasoned frontman, who thrashed his head so violently I was amazed the mic could pick him up (or that he stayed conscious). From that opener, the intensity never flagged.

The Life Is Beautiful crowd needed it after three days of rocking out on concrete, eating and drinking too much and not sleeping enough. Sprawling almost to the glowing Ferris wheel on the edge of the fest’s footprint, bodies came alive as Foo Fighters got nasty on a huge catalog of songs, drawing from two decades and every mood you can imagine. They played only one from the forthcoming Sonic Highways, Chicago-inspired “Something for Nothing,” and fans seemed thrilled with the choice.

The set was heaviest on hits from 1997’s The Colour and the Shape and 2011’s Wasting Light, but it was peppered with favorites from the Foos’ debut album as well as a bonus track that had drummer Taylor Hawkins singing lead vocals, the awesomeness that is “The Pretender” (that video still gets me) and a handful of fun covers: “Miss You” by the Stones, the David Bowie-Queen collab “Under Pressure” and Tom Petty’s “Breakdown,” though I doubt Petty himself ever jammed out on it as excessively and gleefully as Grohl and his merry men.

Foo Fighters at Life Is Beautiful 2014

Foo Fighters at Life Is Beautiful 2014

Guitarists Pat Smear and Chris Shiflett and bass player Nate Mendel tore into their strings for a swirling, saturated sound, sending Grohl running to various corners of the stage to rage with them. Keyboardist Rami Jaffee added richness to pummeling rockers and slow burners alike. “Times Like These” taffy-pulled notes until they were almost synthy. Guitars got honeyed on “My Hero,” and a guy on crutches couldn’t help pumping one in the air. Before launching into “Learn to Fly,” Grohl growled a James Brown-style, “Heeeeeey!” and the crowd called it back again and again. He bantered throughout, always addressing us as “ladies and gentlemen” before launching good-natured F-bombs about having the freedom to play what they wanted and remembering this night forever. “Best of You,” “Monkey Wrench” and “This is a Call”—the first song from the Foos’ first album—were highlights of the two-hour set, though my favorite slice was a stripped-down “Big Me,” dedicated to a 70-year-old fan. It was full of sweetness and warmth, Grohl’s voice ragged in the best way and hanging onto the last “into” forever.

But where the music was charged and satisfying, the screens were just … weird. From cartoon effects à la old-school MTV to the specter of Chicago’s John Hancock building, pulsating superimposed concert fliers to relentless swipes of red like some bloody Etch A Sketch, the visual was distracting and looked pretty low-budget. That may have been on purpose, though I wonder about the camerawork, which focused almost entirely on Grohl, Shiflett and Hawkins (maybe it's those incredible teeth … they actually glow in the dark!).

Like the band, the diehard fans can be irreverent, from tossing beers to tying phallic glowing things to balloons to soar over the crowd. But the best moment had to be a guy in an American flag tank top doing a sultry grind on his buddy (because drugs).

As midnight approached, Grohl thanked LIB and the crowd for the good times.

“Instead of walking off and doing all that encore bullsh*t, let’s just keep playing. Let’s f*ckin’ go until we just can’t go anymore,” he said somewhere in the midst of the Petty cover, which went on and on. Anyone who looked away or at a watch during that song snapped back to attention with the final tune, “Everlong.” Grohl left it all on that stage, stopping suddenly after a, “She sang—”

He stepped back, brushed the sweaty hair from his face. Even with all those people, it was pretty close to silent. And then as one, the Foos went at it. Exuberant. Unleashing more than playing. I hope Grohl meant what he said about seeing us next time.

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