Wembley Stadium. the biggest concerts in the entire world are played there. Queen, Live Aid, and now the Foo Fighters have released a DVD where they play there. 85,000 people were there to share this concert, along with a few "Special guests" which we will discuss later. let's talk about the show.
I have made my views on the latest Foos album pretty clear: I don't like it. It's decidedly average and I expect better. I am not happy at the amount of tracks from this new album that are included in the setlist including opening on The Pretender, the un-rocking Cheer Up Boys and the almost unbelievably average Long Road to Ruin. Other than that, there are the regular moments of Foo Fighter brilliance, including an acoustic set where four other Foo Fighters join the party.
The old stuff is still pretty good, Breakout results in a guitar battle where Shiflette smokes Dave like a salmon and Talyor Hawkins shows that he is not human, but some kind of monkey/metronome hybrid with one of the greatest drum solos I've ever seen. Monkey Wrench causes the crowd to crap itself and the first set (and inevitable encore) ends with a rather sporting rendition of All My Life. But of course it's after they walk off that things get very interesting.
I mentioned Special Guests, and brother, they don't come much more special. Dave comes out and says that it's the biggest show in the world, and that they needed to do something special. no sooner has he said that than Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones walk out on stage. Now, just to let that sink in, Jimmy Motherfucking Page and John Paul Motherfucking Jones, from Led FUCKING Zepplin, just walked out on stage with the Foo Fighters. I've seen them play with Queen before, but DAMN if they didn't up the Ante on this one. What follows is one of the greatest moments in rock history as well as quite possibly a lifelong dream fulfilled. Dave steps behind the kit and drums while Taylor sings Rock and Roll. As if that's not enough, Dave and Taylor trade places and to Ramble On. The awesome is hard to comprehend here. Two of my favorite bands have joined together to form a force of awesome the likes of which nobody has ever seen.
After Zepplin leave it's a fairly heartfelt performance of Best Of You in which Dave Grohl, the drummer from Nirvana, cried his eyes out when 85,000 people sung his own lyrics back to him. This puts an end to speculation that Dave is actually a machine pumping out albums and side projects as fast as he can, and gives credence to the "he's just an awesome dude" argument, and damned if you don't find yourself singing along and feeling for the guy. In his biggest show ever he lived out his lifelong dream, and literally thousands of people love him enough to learn his lyrics.
Techically the DVD is resonable, it sounds great (although they've mixed Dave's vocals too high again), after 14 years the Fooies are still doing well in terms of playing and coherency. The four new members really do enhance the sound in the acoustic parts, and I'm hoping that they might be headed to an Arcade Fire esque sound on the new album after they take a well earned break
So the concert itself is nothing special, nothing you haven't seen on any of the other Fooies DVD releases, but worth checking out for Led Zep, who were always going to be the highlight.
I have made my views on the latest Foos album pretty clear: I don't like it. It's decidedly average and I expect better. I am not happy at the amount of tracks from this new album that are included in the setlist including opening on The Pretender, the un-rocking Cheer Up Boys and the almost unbelievably average Long Road to Ruin. Other than that, there are the regular moments of Foo Fighter brilliance, including an acoustic set where four other Foo Fighters join the party.
The old stuff is still pretty good, Breakout results in a guitar battle where Shiflette smokes Dave like a salmon and Talyor Hawkins shows that he is not human, but some kind of monkey/metronome hybrid with one of the greatest drum solos I've ever seen. Monkey Wrench causes the crowd to crap itself and the first set (and inevitable encore) ends with a rather sporting rendition of All My Life. But of course it's after they walk off that things get very interesting.
I mentioned Special Guests, and brother, they don't come much more special. Dave comes out and says that it's the biggest show in the world, and that they needed to do something special. no sooner has he said that than Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones walk out on stage. Now, just to let that sink in, Jimmy Motherfucking Page and John Paul Motherfucking Jones, from Led FUCKING Zepplin, just walked out on stage with the Foo Fighters. I've seen them play with Queen before, but DAMN if they didn't up the Ante on this one. What follows is one of the greatest moments in rock history as well as quite possibly a lifelong dream fulfilled. Dave steps behind the kit and drums while Taylor sings Rock and Roll. As if that's not enough, Dave and Taylor trade places and to Ramble On. The awesome is hard to comprehend here. Two of my favorite bands have joined together to form a force of awesome the likes of which nobody has ever seen.
After Zepplin leave it's a fairly heartfelt performance of Best Of You in which Dave Grohl, the drummer from Nirvana, cried his eyes out when 85,000 people sung his own lyrics back to him. This puts an end to speculation that Dave is actually a machine pumping out albums and side projects as fast as he can, and gives credence to the "he's just an awesome dude" argument, and damned if you don't find yourself singing along and feeling for the guy. In his biggest show ever he lived out his lifelong dream, and literally thousands of people love him enough to learn his lyrics.
Techically the DVD is resonable, it sounds great (although they've mixed Dave's vocals too high again), after 14 years the Fooies are still doing well in terms of playing and coherency. The four new members really do enhance the sound in the acoustic parts, and I'm hoping that they might be headed to an Arcade Fire esque sound on the new album after they take a well earned break
So the concert itself is nothing special, nothing you haven't seen on any of the other Fooies DVD releases, but worth checking out for Led Zep, who were always going to be the highlight.
