Rock News
REVIEW, PHOTOS: Foo Fighters Wasting Light Australian Tour Rocks The Sydney Football Stadium Post by: Chris E Leigh 9 December, 2011 - 12:31 AM
(Photos: Triple M)
A night with the Foo Fighters feels freaking good. Especially when you share it with a 40,000-strong stadium-size singalong.
You suddenly realise the Foos are terrifyingly huge as you pass the hordes of people into the cavernous SFS. Bright-eyed teenagers, 40-something dads and everyone in-between are ready to passionately sing the words to all the songs they know and love. And there’s a lot. It's enough to slice a smile through the most jaded rock fan.
Yes, the Sydney Football Stadium is what Dave calls the ‘Enormo-Dome’ – it sure isn’t the sh**ty dive bar down the street, like the one's they played back in the day. Sure, it’s not as cool, but there’s something to be said for that much energy contained in one space, especially when the stars of the show veer between goofily awesome dudes and ‘serious rock musicians.’ This band is f**king tight live.
Kicking off with "All My Life", Dave issued a rallying call to 'dance!' before they barreled through "Rope", "The Pretender" and "My Hero", exaggerating the harshness of the latter’s intro until it was almost deliciously serrated.
Dave is highly animated, even taking on a kind of sign language - miming cry, tapping his chest for heart and headbanging like Beavis and Butthead as he barrels down the catwalk.
Taylor Hawkins is the buff human manifestation of Animal from the Muppets, all crazily wide silly grin and flailing limbs. He and Dave (and in fact the whole band) have a musical symbiosis so deep they're almost touching as Dave runs up and almost plays from within the drums... Especially during the first big drum breakdown after the whole crowd started bellowing "My Hero".
Dave takes a breath before screaming at the top of his lungs, then letting the crowd roar back in a call and response you swear you’d do yourself if you changed places.
Then, all of a sudden, we crashed back to reality. 'Hi, how the f*** are you doing, my name’s Dave,’ he says, as if we’re suddenly down the pub, joking about how many people there are… as he says ‘we’ve got a lot of songs!’ Dave promises one thing we won’t soon forget: ‘We play ‘til the neighbours call the cops!’
"Learn To Fly" is followed by one of their denser, crunchier numbers and then "Arlandria", who’s immediately recognizable intro is tweaked and eerie, a characteristic of the whole show… playing with the favourites, twisting them just enough, Pat Smear grinning happily as he riffs away.
‘This one goes out to all the old Foo Fighters fans… the crusty, forty-something-ass dads!’ Dave yelled as they burst into 2000 classic "Breakout" as people climb onto each other’s shoulders and everyone screams at the top of their lungs.
It was at this moment the band were locked in a circle together and there was an intimacy between them that belied the stadium full of people behind them, fervently playing their instruments. Taylor all Animal intensity, Chris Shiflett getting a moment to take over in a gloriously stripped back moment, before locking in with a band who’ve clearly earned their stripes.
The lights faded up as Dave joked, ‘I want to look you in the face!’ He welcomed back old fans, and told new ones not to be ashamed if it’s their first time because: ‘We used to suck but now we’re rad, but only because Chris is in the band,’ and declaring they wouldn’t be a band without Nate Mendel, and honouring Pat and their ‘sixth Beatle’ Rami Jafee, ‘who studied music his whole life and now gets to play two songs'.
‘We play stadiums because Taylor Hawkins plays drums… well, he made us watch Queen at Live Aid a million times,’ Dave joked.
'We’re here for one reason. Drugs', Taylor fired back, to guffaws from the audience. ‘No, it’s because of this MUSICAL GENIUS, Dave Grohl,’ he said, as the obligatory mutual masturbation (I say that with love) reached it’s natural conclusion with ‘I hate the attention, this sucks,’ from Dave.
The banter formed a great intro to the Taylor-voiced "Cold Day In The Sun", which lurched into "Long Road To Ruin" and "Stacked Actors".
Midway through the track they segued into a hilarious guitar battle between Chris and Dave, who traded over-the-top 70s-style solos for a few minutes, while Pat, not to be outdone, broke his guitar over his amp and played several strings short.
Theatrics and a bit of tongue-in-cheek 'taking the piss' is fun to watch, especially when they both give each other a run for their money.
"Walk"’s searing refrain, ‘I never want to die!’ gave the crowd goosebumps before Dave started talking about why rock and roll was important, how a rock show wasn’t the same as dudes with computers.
In fact, if anyone ever tells us that some dudes with computers IS in fact a rock show, ‘tell them your friend Dave says this,' before cracking open classic Foos track, "Monkey Wrench".
All of a sudden, the lights were cut and we were lost in instrumental moment, with a darkened stadium glittering with phones and lighters. ‘Want me to scream?’ Dave asked the room, before kicking into the song full bore all over again, lights and guitars blazing.
Halfway through this moment, we heard screaming behind us. Yep, Foos fan Graham chose this moment to propose to his girlfriend Becky (as you can see in the photo above). She accepted, and everyone clapped and cheered. If that’s not a sign of a solid rock show, what is? Especially when the Foos then launch into an epic cover of Pink Floyd’s "The Wall", followed by "Best Of You", before running offstage.
It wasn't all folks; in fact, it was time for the Foos classic night vision encore tease, from behind stage. Dave toys with the crowd over the songs, chugs a beer and re-emerges. They've done it before, they’ll do it again, and it’s always a great way to end a show. But not before they play five (yes, five) more songs.
Dave runs out to the middle of the packed stadium, declaring he’ll play the last songs for the ‘sad ass motherf***ers in the shitty seats,’ joking, ‘what, do you have dial up at home?’, before playing an acoustic version of (apparently) German hit single [and Triple M favourite], "Wheels".
‘It’s not a stadium show until someone shows their tits!’ joking that the blokes showing theirs needed a ‘wax job or something.’
Those craving a more intimate experience were next to get lucky, with Dave promising to play the ‘sh**ty little sweathole down the street from your house’ before the band’s next ‘enormo-dome’ show in Australia.
"Times Like These" leapt from acoustic to electric in one Dave barrel back down the runway, into "Generator" and Queen’s "Tie Your Mother Down" alongside Tenacious D.
Dave thanked the crowd profusely, declaring himself ‘the luckiest man in the world’ before closing what was a truly spectacular rock show with fan favourite "Everlong". The Foo Fighters goddamn deliver.
Setlist
All My Life
Rope
The Pretender
My Hero
Learn to Fly
White Limo
Arlandria
Breakout
Cold Day in the Sun
Long Road to Ruin
Stacked Actors
Walk
Let It Die
Monkey Wrench
These Days
This is a Call
In the Flesh? (Pink Floyd cover)
Best of You
Encore:
Wheels (Acoustic)
Times Like These (Acoustic)
Generator
Tie Your Mother Down (Queen cover) (with Tenacious D)
Everlong
What did you think of the show?
