Foo Fighters scream 32,000 people out of their hump-day blues in first Australian show

MUSIC
Foo Fighters ★★★★
HBF Park, Perth, November 29

It takes a lot to rip Perth out of the working week coma that has set in deep by Wednesday but the Foo Fighters were just the antidote.

The band, led by frontman Dave Grohl screamed and shredded their way through an energetic 2½-hour set in front of a sell-out crowd of 32,000 at HBF Park – the first stop in their first proper Australian tour since 2018.

Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl with new drummer Josh Freese at HBF Park in Perth on November 29.Credit: Stu McKay

Former drummer Taylor Hawkins’ death in March last year delayed the tour by a year, and it was a personal story about Hawkins shared by Grohl and tributes throughout the set that elevated the gig to something special.

And a well-received compliment about how our fair city should be the first stop of every major tour, along with an all-killer, no-filler set that spanned the band’s entire 29-year history, left even the most discerning fans totally nourished.

We first saw Grohl’s shaggy black mop grace the stage for 2002’s All My Life which gave Hawkins’ replacement, serial touring drummer Josh Freese, an opportunity to introduce himself with a rollicking drum solo.

Freese, who resembles a mix between Expendables-era Dolph Lundgren and Ryan Gosling as Ken, has played in a range of huge bands including Devo, Nine Inch Nails, and the Offspring, and Grohl told the crowd the tour would not have been possible without him.

The crowd then heartily sang along to powerful renditions of The Pretender (2007) and Walk (2011).

Before launching into a gospel-style Times Like These (2002), Grohl pointed out how many younger people he saw in the crowd, many of whom wouldn’t have even been born before their first album was released.

He was overjoyed to see a child on his dad’s shoulders in the middle of the mosh and offered him some sage wisdom.

“It’s all downhill from here, buddy,” he said.

They ticked off fan favourites My Hero (1997) and Learn to Fly (1997) and These Days (2011) before Grohl slowed the pace down with a short acoustic block which included an incredible solo instrumental he wrote for Beaconsfield miner Brant Webb, called The Ballad of the Beaconsfield Miners.

The pace picked up again with Nothing At All from the band’s latest album But Here We Are.

During the band’s most upbeat song Monkey Wrench (1997), Grohl boasted about how he could still scream and, yep, checks out.

They should coat space shuttles with whatever Dave Grohl’s vocal cords are made of.

Foo Fighters live at HBF Park in Perth on November 29.Credit: Stu McKay

Before playing what Grohl said was Hawkins’ favourite Foo Fighters song – Aurora (1999) – he recounted a memory of when they were touring Australia for the Big Day Out festival many years ago.

Grohl said after their set on the Gold Coast they watched some other bands while downing a few cocktails before he and Hawkins made an ill-fated decision to ride scooters back to their hotel.

On the way home, Grohl said he was stopped by a booze bus, blew over, and was taken to jail while Hawkins was waved through.

Grohl said it was up to Hawkins to inform their tour manager at the time that their lead singer had been locked up.

“We love him and miss him every day,” Grohl said.

The band rounded out their set with a cover of AC/DC’s Big Balls sung by their Australian drum technician called Fiona before ending on Best of You (2005).

For their encore, they played another track from their new album The Teacher before ending the night with one of their biggest hits Everlong (2007).

The Foo Fighters now travel to Adelaide for a show at Coopers Stadium on December 2 before heading to Melbourne for two shows next week on December 4 and 6 at AAMI Park then onto Sydney and Brisbane later that month.

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