‘Fingers Crossed for the New Guy’, reads the entrance of drummer Josh Freese’s cut-off T, as the latest iteration of the Foo Fighters takes to the stage on the buzzy Boston Calling— the musical centrepiece of the town’s Memorial vacation weekend. There was by no means any doubt that the band would rise to the event. These seasoned music professionals have honed their craft to one thing nearing, if not perfection, actually supremacy of their subject. There was additionally by no means any doubt that Freese, an achieved session drummer for the likes of Guns N’ Roses, Nine Inch Nails, Weezer, and Paramore, would be capable of carry the Foo’s wealthy again catalogue on his drum skins. There was, nevertheless, a distinct form of uncertainty within the air tonight.
As the gang justles below the blazing sundown carrying merch from their favorite band, the sense of anticipation that preludes any Foo Fighters gig is tinged with further expectation. There’s an acknowledgement of a specific absence and overarching disappointment that hardly ever comes earlier than a bombastic Foos headline set. Last 12 months’s passing of drummer Taylor Hawkins was at all times certain to hold heavy over the proceedings, the query being how this veteran band, led by Dave Grohl, a person who has misplaced a couple of shut good friend far too early, was going to navigate the tragedy.
Freese takes on the function of major curio confidently, establishing himself all through the set. Following the assured opening of ‘Rescued’, the opening observe from imminent album ‘But Here We Are’, he thrashes round his equipment on ‘Walk’, the nearer of 2011’s low-key ‘Wasting Light’, eschewing any doubt of his skills, if there have been any. It is just one a part of a really drum-heavy set, the place it’s fairly clear the band are utilizing this as a chance to showcase their new percussion part, and reassure everybody, possibly even themselves, that it’s okay to hold on.
It’s arduous to not learn into Grohl’s each gesture and motion. Still, for probably the most half, he’s right here to do what he at all times does— personal the asses of the gang in entrance of him, as they grasp on each shredded word that emerges from his mouth, someplace beneath a cascade of shoulder-length, sweat-drenched hair. Any spirit, pleasure de vivre, or vitality one may have forgiven Grohl for shedding within the final 12 months he double downs on now, as he leans into his feelings and delivers a efficiency of depth and grit. The crowd explodes on the first signal of ‘Learn to Fly’, however ‘Times Like These’ is the primary observe to hit significantly arduous as Grohl opens the track unaccompanied. Songs, as he observes all through the present, tackle new which means as time goes on, beginning out as one factor and turning into one thing else, and the phrases, “It’s times like these you learn to love again”, pack a better emotional punch than ever earlier than.
There’s a noticeable lack of viewers interplay for the primary 5 songs because the band rattles by way of the early a part of their set, giving newcomer Freese area to showcase his abilities, but in addition area for Grohl and his bandmates to regular themselves in entrance of solely the third viewers they’ve performed to because the loss of life of Hawkins. But then good ol’ Dave involves the fore. “I know it’s embarrassing to hear your parents sing a song. Tough shit”, he says because the viewers screams ‘Breakout’s chorus again at him. There’s additionally a self-consciousness beaming from the band, as in the event that they’re asking followers “Is this okay?’” and it feels unusual and emotional when Grohl goes to face the equipment and another person is sitting there. But when somebody new takes a seat on the drums, Hawkin’s son Shane, he’s met with a wave of affection and rapturous applause from the captivated crowd. After he takes on ‘I’ll Stick Around’, Grohl remarks, “That’s what it felt like 27 years ago” making the gang surprise if maybe there’ll be one other full-time Hawkins behind the Foo’s equipment someday. The evening continues to be a household affair, with Grohl’s daughter becoming a member of her dad on vocal duties for ‘Rope’ and the underrated ‘Shame Shame’.
But tonight is in regards to the latest member of the Foo’s household. Once they’d settled into their basic line-up, Dave and Taylor have been clear talismen of the group. It was at all times going to be unsettling for everybody to witness a brand new face behind the equipment given the circumstances, however Freese provides an achieved tightness and thrust to the band’s sound, giving tracks like ‘Best of You’, for instance, an offended urgency it hasn’t had in years.
To say the Foo Fighters are reinvigorated can be to recommend that they have been someway on the wane earlier than, however the brand new dimension and momentum Freese provides to their sound lends them a slickness and weight that may absolutely see them remaining a rock’n’roll mainstay. “It takes a lot for every single one of us on this side of the stage to be here, and we wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for all of you,” says Grohl, introducing trusted finale ‘Everlong’. “For years, we always play this song instead of saying goodbye because I hope we never do.” No want for an encore, then — the Foos have solely simply began their subsequent act.
Foo Fighters performed:
‘Rescued’
‘Walk’
‘No Son of Mine’
‘Learn to Fly’
‘This Is a Call’
‘Times Like These’
‘Under You’
‘The Pretender’
‘The Sky Is a Neighborhood’
‘Breakout’
‘My Hero’
‘All My Life’
‘Shame Shame’ (with Violet Grohl)
‘Rope’ (with Violet Grohl)
‘Cold Day in the Sun'(Dave Grohl solo)
‘I’ll Stick Around'(with Shane Hawkins)
‘Best of You’
‘Monkey Wrench’
‘Aurora’
‘Everlong’