Photo: Daniel Quesada
Playing host to the rescheduled Foo Fighters shows that were cancelled after frontman Dave Grohl broke his leg falling off stage at a show in Gothenburg, the National Bowl in Milton Keynes was last night alive with the sound of 65,000 screaming fans.
Following sets from rock duo Royal Blood and the always energetic Iggy Pop, the Foos knew they had to bring it. From the moment the curtain dropped to the end of the show, where the band closed out with the same song they always do, ‘Best Of You’, it was obvious it was going to be one to remember.
After opening the show with both ‘Everlong’ and ‘Monkey Wrench’, Dave, still with a broken leg and confined to a Foo Fighters throne, made it clear he wasn’t looking to take long breaks in between songs saying: “We’ve got too many songs. We’ve got to keep it going!”
The greatest hits show fans hoped it would be, ‘Learn To Fly’, ‘My Hero’, ‘The Pretender’ and ‘Times Like These’ were just some of the favourites on offer. An acoustic version of ‘Big Me’ proved to be one of the night’s highlights but the band had a trick up their sleeve that involved an iconic British band who had also once graced the National Bowl’s stage.
Performing their own version of Queen’s ‘Under Pressure’, complete with Freddie Mercury vocal warm up beforehand, this was the moment that well and truly stole the show. Why? Replacing Grohl on vocals, drummer Taylor Hawkins became frontman while Queen drummer Roger Taylor took charge of the sticks. Not only that, Led Zepplin’s John Paul Jones also joined the band. Grohl joked, “You should see my roller decks.”
Apologising to the fans over and over again for the leg break and delay in the shows taking place, Grohl genuinely felt bad so decided to give the “old school fans” something to chew on. Playing older songs such as ‘Breakout’, he thanked all the fans who had seen them at past shows including “that tiny place in Camden.”
While Dave Grohl’s leg might still be broken, his screams are not. Foo Fighters more than made up for the delay with an electrifying show that ticked all the boxes.
Foo Fighters played:
Everlong
Monkey Wrench
Learn to Fly
Something From Nothing
The Pretender
Big Me
Congregation
Walk
Eruption (Van Halen cover)
(Van Halen cover)
Roundabout (Yes cover)
God Save the Queen (Sex Pistols cover)
Cold Day in the Sun
Under Pressure (Queen & David Bowie cover) (with Roger Taylor and John Paul Jones)
All My Life
Times Like These
These Days
White Limo
Arlandria
Breakout
Outside
This Is a Call
DOA (Crowd request)
For All the Cows
Aurora
Best of You
