The first Foo Fighters' Australian tour since 2018 – not forgetting their one-off Geelong concert last year – Dave Grohl & co. are promoting their latest album 'But Here We Are' live and loud for the very first time Down Under!
Teenage Joans from Adelaide are the first act to get the crowd in the live music zone. Playing to early arrivals, I only get to catch their set from outside the entry gates. From what I can hear Cahli Blakers (vocals, guitar) is cranking the indie pop-punk goods and I can faintly hear some of the crowd singing along.Cahli and Tahlia Borg (vocals, drums) have been churning out banger after banger, and collecting quite a few accolades for their edgy and melancholic-infused brand of music. With 'support act for Foo Fighters' on their resume makes me think there's simply no stopping them.
Next up are The Chats and they're getting a cheer from many in the crowd as Eamon Sandwith introduces their song 'Nambored'. This is followed up by another home-town ode, 'Dead On Site', and they let loose a cracker of a set which includes '6L GTR', 'Stinker', 'Heatstroke', and 'The Price Of Smokes'.
The Chats - image © Clea-marie Thorne
The Chats' sound was on-point and fans in the crowd got into their set with enthusiasm, however having seen them live a number of times, I can say their regular onstage verve is a few notches lower than usual.
This is until 'Smoko' got punters singing in their most bogan voices and it incited their ongoing chorus to the set's ending song 'Better Than You'. The Chats are leaving the stage to shouts and clapping from the crowd.
It feels like ages we are waiting forever for the headliners, but bang on time at 7.30pm, Foo Fighters take their places. Dave Grohl points out to the crowd and the band let rip with 'All My Life', with fans needing no further encouragement than seeing their favourite rock band and frontman in front of them to break out in a sing-along.
You know about it, you've mourned his tragic loss so the many fans gathering here today will absolutely be missing the insanely energetic and demon drummer, Taylor Hawkins and his smiling face, dynamism and exceptional talent.
It is Josh Freese who has stepped up to the kit for the FFs and even though he is an old mate of the Grohl's, you know he has been handpicked for his impeccable drumming and his bio is immense. Devo is playing Brisbane tonight and Jeff Friedl is drumming for them – I didn't think Freese could be in two places at once!
Foo Fighters - image © Clea-marie Thorne
The big screens either side of the stage make it easy to confirm the rest of FFs band remains the same with Grohl joined by Nate Mendel (bass), Pat Smear aka Georg Albert Ruthenberg (rhythm guitar), Chris Shiflett (lead guitar) and Rami Jaffee (keys).
'No Son Of Mine' presents brutal riffs alongside the grungy vocals of Grohl that includes guest riffage from 'Paranoid' and 'Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap'.
FFs continue their sonic assault with 'Rescued' followed by the lilting start of 'The Pretender', before the lads get to ripping it up brutally across the strings overtop the faultless harmony and beats of the rhythm section.
Cracker tracks 'Walk', 'Times Like These' led by Grohl, and Dave and Jaffee were embraced by the crowd and heightened the punter community feels. A more recent release, 'Under You' came before 'Stacked Actors' which at the end Grohl commanded us to get our phones and light up the night to 'Breakout'.
Foo Fighters - image © Clea-marie Thorne
Grohl's gutsy, rocker crooning soars along the groove-driven riffs with Smear proving a faultless harmony on his axe ringing out across the stadium arena. The feels are hitting me right in the chest.
We then get the best of the rest along with band introductions that sees a mix up of covers including 'Sabotage' and 'Blitzkrieg Bop', with Freese particularly showing off his chops on snippets of 'The Outsider', 'Whip It', and 'March Of The Pigs' – all being covers of bands he has drummed for.
Grohl gives us a solo intro to 'My Hero' that morphs into a full-band throttle with fans joining in full song. More favourites, like a never-ending packet of Tim Tams, comes 'The Sky Is A Neighbourhood', soaring 'Learn To Fly', a tense but heartfelt, 'Arlandria' and 'These Days'.
It's been a while since FFs have played 'Ballad Of The Beaconsfield Miners’ and Grohl takes this in hand and smashes the tribute out for them with a salute to the Aussies that went to help at the 2006 disaster.
Foo Fighters - image © Clea-marie Thorne
However, wait there's more! Leading us in with a little taste of The Beatles is the grinding hip mover 'Nothing At All' that alternates with climatic peaks that sends our heads banging in unison and arms high punching holes in the air above our heads.
Next up is 'Monkey Wrench', one of the best longstanding FF playful songs and it is getting the young and old crooning along with loud voices overtop of the fast riffage.
The emotion is evident in Grohl's voice, on his face and the way he cuts loose throughout the whole of 'Aurora', the song he states he will continue to dedicate to the memory of Taylor Hawkins, a person he misses every single day and could talk about endlessly.
A person none of us will ever forget and Grohl will make sure the world doesn't. The silhouette of Hawkin's hawk silhouette shows up on the digital backdrop as another reminder to celebrate him.
FFs are bringing yet another big banger as 'This Is A Call' has the crowd going nuts and this breezy yet driving fan favourite keeps the energy high as does Smear's rhythmic pulse and those rolls from Freese.
FFs drum technician Fiona M is called out onstage after Grohl talks about us loving AC/DC. Looking every bit punk and rock, Fiona comes out and screams "Let's do this!" and gives us a ballsy 'Big Balls' cover (not dissimilar to Amy Taylor of Amyl and the Sniffers) with FFs as her back band.
Foo Fighters - image © Clea-marie Thorne
Fiona switches up some of the lyrics and gestures to the band members as she describes all the "balls" to the claim of "the biggest, balls of them all!". The crowd sing-along chanting "We've got big balls!". It is a whole lot of fun and a very well executed ending with a smashing, punk-riddled frenzy of thrashing guitars and drums. It has to be a tour staple; the rest of Australia needs to see this!
'Best Of You' gives us a live twist of funky groove to the solos all round. In particular Rami has gone wild smashing on the keys and Freese's drumming is crazy and out of this world, and it confirms that the quote on his muscle shirt 'as handy as an ashtray on a motorbike' is absolutely no reference to his drumming skills.
Our encore starts with Grohl coming out with a double-necked axe as he lifts off with another track from 'But Here We Are', 'The Teacher'. The digital backdrop changes again into a psychedelic wonder of trippy morphing images as the band returns to give full sound to the song.
After this, Grohl is telling us that he hates goodbyes and it is reassuring that we'll be seeing them again. This leads to everyone's favourite 'Everlong' as the close-out song. The intro gives goosepimples and instantaneously our serotonin levels explode holding us in a constant state of rock & roll rapture.
We scream the lyrics for FFs to hear, all from the deepest parts our hearts and souls in a finale sing-along that is sure as heck shaking the grounds of HBF Park and the surrounding neighbourhood.
Foo Fighters - image © Clea-marie Thorne
The stadium show has gone by all too quickly, but I am floating out of the venue on a cloud of sheer ecstasy. Pure rock & roll at its finest erupted in Perth tonight topped off with a light show and jaw-dropping 3D digital backdrops and stage sound that was nothing short of amazing.
Foo Fighters prove to us time and time again they're still at the top of the rock & roll food chain, and having three hours of cranking FFs and a whole lot of rock & roll Grohl, this has been one hell of a night of live music bliss.
More photos from the show.
