Mark MauerFoo Fighters
Secret Location, Los Angeles
By Ryan Colditz
The Foo Fighters were filming live material on Tuesday night for an upcoming appearance on Nissan Live Sets, presented by Yahoo Music. Unlike a normal concert, between songs there was an ongoing Q&A between fans and the band. Only several hundred people were in the audience, which is all the better when you have someone as personable as Dave Grohl in front of a microphone. All of a sudden a rock show becomes and impromptu comedy show. Grohl, playing his usual class-clown role, kept the evening light during downtimes between filming. Adding fuel to his fire, the back and forth banter with drummer Taylor Hawkins became a show of its own. For as hard as these guy work and make music, they know how to have a good time in the process.
Onto the music portion of the evening. Four news songs were performed. “Pretender,” “Long Road to Ruin,” “Cheer Up Boys” and “Home.” “Pretender” has great energy and the song just pounds its way along, like rock and roll used to do. “Home,” Grohl's newest slow-song masterpiece, brought the crowed to their knees with the performance. For this ditty, Grohl is on the piano instead of guitar – new territory. The song is simple, but it sucks you in. This being the first live performance of “Home,” the look on Grohl's face after the last note was the look of a man who knew this song is a winner.
(Photo above by Matt Sayles of the Associated Press, taken at Nissan Live Sets on Yahoo! Music.)
Tonight was a special treat because the Foos were in a unique atmosphere, not stuck in their normal arena rock setting. They got out of their shell a little and were able to try out new things. Part way through “Best Of You,” Grohl stopped the song, called for a “redo,” traded his electric for an acoustic, sent the band off stage, and played the song solo. It proved to be the better choice – the man knows what he's doing.
(Photo above by Matt Sayles of the Associated Press, taken at Nissan Live Sets on Yahoo! Music.)
The remainder of the set brought on the hits, including “My Hero,” “Best of You,” “All My Life” and “Skin and Bones,” off their latest live release from their shows at Pantages Theater last year. The band was in good spirits and could be seen messing around backstage, a “Bro-deo” as Ghrol called it.
The Q&A was a great addition to the show, where fans got the opportunity to pick the band's perpetually jet-lagged brain. We learned that they got a kick out of Prince's cover of “Best of You,” they were most excited to open for Prodigy, and that playing the Live Earth concert has been one of their most memorable show to date.
One more noteworthy mention is that the Foos had a larger band than in past tours. At least four additional musicians were onstage, including the re-occuring Pat Smear, who played with Grohl in a band back in the Nineties. What this meant was a fuller, heavier Foo sound. And that is a good thing.
–Ryan Colditz
Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers.