Rock News
REVIEW, PHOTOS: Foo Fighters Kick Off Their Wasting Light Australian Tour At NIB Stadium, Perth Post by: Tim Lordan 29 November, 2011 - 8:18 AM
(Photo: Triple M)
There'd been a bit of drizzle around Perth tonight, but as the Foos army filtered into NIB stadium, not even a tornado was gonna stop this show.
One of the great things is that your Foo Fighters ticket also buys you Tenacious D - who genuinely rock AND are hilarious at the same time.
Jack Black's banter is a good laugh ("you know, we've ALWAYS wanted to play Perth"). And Kyle Gass is not only the most unlikely rock-star ever, but possibly the most laid-back.
Highlights from their 45-minute set included "Wonderboy", "Death Star" and a new track called "Roadie". It could just be their rudest - and of course funniest - song ever!
By the time Dave Grohl and the lads hit the stage, 20,000 fans had crammed inside the stadium. This caused drummer Taylor Hawkins to remark that's it's "ridiculous" this many people had turned out to see the Fooeys! Humble guys.
Foo Fighters opened the show with back-to-back killers from the latest album Wasting Light - "Bridge Burning" and "Rope".
By the time they launched into the classic "My Hero", they were well and truly warmed up - and so were the crowd, with that song earning the first major sing-along of the evening.
The Wasting Light album got a good run with "Arlandria", "Rosemary" and the blistering "White Limo", the latter a REAL ball-tearer live! Plus, "These Days", which holds a special place in Dave's heart saying it's "maybe the best song I've written". He could be right.
Oh and Dave Grohl got a good run himself, up and down what is the longest stage extension I've seen. Not only that, the end of the walkway RISES! So there's Dave, smack-bang in the middle of the crowd raised up above them like a true messiah. Rock God indeed!
The gig was light on earlier Foo material, but what they did play was well-selected including a killer rendition of "Monkey Wrench" - which stopped half way through, so that the Fooey's cameras could be turned on the crowd, for one of the greatest "wave your mobile phone in the air" moments I've ever seen. It could have been cliched, but was actually magical.
At one point in the show, Dave Grohl exclaimed "we're a real rock band. We don't need computers". And they prove that with plenty of extended jams during their songs. And although the screens and lighting are flash it's not to U2 proportions.
As you can see in the video a fan sent to us, Dave Grohl returned for an encore to belt out two acoustic tracks - "Wheels" (dedicated to the people "in the shitty seats") and "Best Of You" - before the band joined him for "Times Like These" and a cover of Queen's legendary "Tie Your Mother Down" and Tom Petty's "Breakdown" - complete with Jack and Kyle from Tenacious D on backing vocals! They fittingly closed the show with the crowd-favourite "Everlong."
Jack Black summed it up best when he said during his set "When Dave Grohl invited us on this tour, I said, 'OK, we'll bring the lightning. The Foo Fighters can bring the thunder!'." And that, my friends, is exactly what they did.
Setlist:
Bridge Burning
Rope
The Pretender
My Hero
Learn to Fly
White Limo
Arlandria
Breakout
Cold Day in the Sun (Taylor Hawkins vocal)
Stacked Actors
Walk
Monkey Wrench
These Days
This is a Call
In the Flesh (Pink Floyd cover)
All My Life
Encore:
Wheels (acoustic)
Best Of You (acoustic)
Times Like These (semi-acoustic)
Dear Rosemary
Breakdown (Tom Petty cover with Tenacious D)
Tie Your Mother Down (Queen cover)
Everlong
What did you think of the show?
