Review: Foo Fighters end Australian tour with epic Suncorp Stadium gig
It was high energy, sweaty - but epic. The Foo Fighters tore up Suncorp Stadium last night, putting on the gig of a lifetime and this cool dad was there to witness it all.
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“It’s the last night of the Australian tour motherf--ckers.”
And with those words Foo Fighters bound into the gig of a lifetime, ripping straight into ‘All My Life’ and from there they didn’t let up.
“It’s going to be a long night motherf--ckers”, frontman Dave Grohl screamed down the mic as they led into their second song of the night ‘No Son of Mine’ and three hours of heavy riffs, unreal vocals and a whole lot of storytelling later, tens of thousands of revellers at Suncorp Stadium were left with little doubt they’d just watched one of the greatest rock bands of their generation put on a hell of a show.
It’s a show that many thought may never come to fruition following the tragic death of drummer Taylor Hawkins 18 months ago. Hawkins passed away in March 2022 in Bogota, Colombia, leaving the Fooeys with an uncertain future, but with the addition of drummer Josh Freese, the band was back to Brisbane and tearing through all their hits.
It was a high-energy, emotional and sweaty December evening on a journey through the Fooeys’ epic catalogue decades in the making.
“We’re going to play as many songs as we f–king can before we collapse,” Grohl growled into the mic.
Going through almost all their studio albums, it’s no surprise their hit singles garnered the biggest crowd reaction, like All My Life, The Pretender, My Hero, Learn to Fly, Best of You and Everlong.
And Grohl was in classic form, a craft he has fine-tuned over the past 28 years of Foo Fighters magic, to be on the same level as other rock gods who have come before him.
His crowd work was impeccable, his mop of hair head banging throughout the show.
There was nothing off the table, with Grohl even bringing up his run in with the law during a Big Day Out on the Gold Coast in 2000.
“It was on one of those Big Day Out tours, I was on a f–king scooter that I rented on the Gold Coast so that I could go to Sea World and drink blue shots that you light on fire.
“It was supposed to be a vacation, I spent that shit in a jail cell with a dude in a Primus T-shirt who wouldn’t stop snoring. It’s true.
“Everyone in that jail was like ‘alright Dave’.”
Later on the gig when he was remembering his good friend Hawkins, Grohl revisited that fateful night in 2000 and the role his mate played in it.
“He was with me that night I got f–king thrown into jail on the Gold Coast, but he was so handsome and charming, they let his ass go.”
And as the gig wore on they played Aurora, a song that held a special place in Hawkins’ heart as Grohl explained.
“We like to play this song every night because it was Taylor Hawkins’ favourite Foo Fighters song.
“We moved into my house and recorded the third record in my basement and it was really the first song that me, Nate and Taylor wrote together, and when we played it live, it was always such a magical feeling.
“So we do it every night for him.”
Playing their final show in Australia on their mammoth world tour, the band left nothing in the Suncorp Stadium sheds and neither did the crowd, with Grohl praising their passion, “wow you Brisbane motherf–kers are gnarly”.
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Good music should strike a chord with the audience, catapult them to a memory, a time in place, like a Wonder Years record scratch, freeze frame.
That is exactly what happened to this reviewer on Tuesday night, when for the first time on the tour, they played Big Me, a love song as Grohl called it, a slow, melodic jam. The song released in 1995, but it would be three years later, when at 12 years old, I had my heart broken for the first time.
And for whatever reason, I heard this song off their debut album Foo Fighters. I spent hours sitting by the cassette player, waiting to hear it again on my local radio station to record it on tape. When I finally got it, I would listen to it, on repeat, for WEEKS. The heartbreak moved on, but my affection and love for that song never left me, it is what made me a fan of the band and 25 years later, I write this embarrassing core memory.
But that’s what good music and even better musicians do, they take you on a journey, whether it’s for three hours in the heart of Brisbane, or 25 years of listening to their music, catching them at gigs when you can and adding their albums to your ‘Bangers’ playlist so your children (and there were hundreds of parents with kids in tow at the Brisbane gig on Tuesday night) can hopefully share your interests.
There are few bands who can transcend time and trends, but the Fooeys have done that.
In classic Grohl form, he refused to say goodbye at the end of the show as they ripped into Everlong, saying they’ll be back down under before long.
Hopefully I can be one of those cool dads who can bring their little ones along to their next show.
Originally published as Review: Foo Fighters end Australian tour with epic Suncorp Stadium gig
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