Foo Fighters to tour Aussie stadiums for first time since death of drummer Taylor Hawkins

Grammy-winning rock giants Foo Fighters will return to Australia for the first time since the death of beloved member Taylor Hawkins.

Dave Grohl and Foo Fighters are coming to Australia to play stadiums in November and December. Picture: Rich Fury/Getty Images

Rock giants Foo Fighters will tour Australia this year for the first time in five years, in their first visit since the death of drummer Taylor Hawkins.

The 15-time Grammy-winning band fronted by singer-songwriter-guitarist Dave Grohl will rock stadiums around the country in November and December, beginning in Perth before moving on to Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.

Foo Fighters’ last full tour of the country was in 2018, but they played a one-off show in Geelong in March of last year as part of the Victorian Government’s Always Live program. That was also the last Australian show played by charismatic drummer Hawkins, who died of cardiovascular collapse aged 50 just weeks later while on tour in Colombia.

After cancelling the rest of that tour – and tribute concerts in London and Los Angeles – the band announced in December that they would continue without Hawkins, and two weeks ago confirmed that Josh Freese would take his place in the band.

Foo Fighters, who have won the Best Rock Album Grammy five times, released their 11th album But Here We Are, on Friday. The band has so far declined to do interviews about the album but has described the new songs as the “sound of brothers finding refuge in the music that brought them together in the first place 28 years ago, a process that was as therapeutic as it was about a continuation of life”.

Rock giants Foo Fighters will tour Australian stadiums in November and December 2023 with new drummer Josh Freese. Picture: Scarlet Page

The band said the lyrics are “a brutally honest and emotionally raw response to everything Foo Fighters have endured recently … 10 songs that run the emotional gamut from rage and sorrow to serenity and acceptance, and myriad points in between”.

Grohl, the former drummer for seminal ‘90s grunge band Nirvana, performed all the drum tracks on the album in Hawkins’ absence.

The end of the year is shaping up as a bumper season for music fans, with several more huge tours announced in recent weeks. Rock veterans Motley Crue and Def Leppard announced a joint tour last week and will play stadiums in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne in November. Rapper-actor 50 Cent is also headed Down Under in December for the Final Lap tour to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his seminal album Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ and will play arenas around the country. Grammy-winners The War On Drugs will also make their way around the East Coast in December.

Rock band Def Leppard will return to Australia in December for a joint tour with Motley Crue.

The likelihood of a summer Bruce Springsteen tour also firmed last month when the Boss told Sirius XM Radio that “we’re eventually going to get to Australia and New Zealand” while outlining his touring plans for the rest of the year. Hopes are also high among fans that local dates for the rave-reviewed Beyonce and Taylor Swift tours will be announced soon.

Foo Fighters play HBF Park, Perth, November 29; Coopers Stadium, Adelaide, December 2; AAMI Park, Melbourne, December 4; Accor Stadium, Sydney, December 9; Suncorp Stadium Brisbane, December 12. Tickets on sale June 15 at frontiertouring.com

Originally published as Foo Fighters to tour Aussie stadiums for first time since death of drummer Taylor Hawkins