https://youtu.be/LbPb2sTMZmo
The Foo Fighters played a historic concert last night at Chicago’s Wrigley Field with a 2-hours+ set that included performances of songs from every era of the band’s existence. The opening acts were all “local bands” that had a lasting influence on Grohl with Urge Overkill kicking things off, then giving way to Naked Raygun (the first band he saw in concert), before Cheap Trick capped off the first half of the night with a brilliant set that showed once more exactly why they’re one of the great all-American bands.
Once the headlining act hit the stage at the “Friendly Confines” it didn’t take too long after Grohl’s first shriek, while still behind the veil, to make it clear that this concert won’t soon (or ever) be forgotten and that we were in store for a damn near-legendary night. The band started off with “Everlong,” which also helped introduce the concert-goers to Dave Grohl’s guitar throne (below). The thing is even more glorious and badass in person and it was amazing seeing how hard Dave could still shred will confined to it.
The set list itself was a celebration of the band’s enviable discography with fan-favorites like “Monkey Wrench,” “Learn To Fly,” “My Hero,” “All My Life,” and “Times Like These” all making the cut. The band of course included some stand-out tracks off their most recent album Sonic Highways like “Congregation,” “Outside,” and “Something From Nothing,” the song he wrote about Chicago featuring a guest appearance from Cheap Trick’s Rick Nielsen (above), were all peppered in throughout the night.
Midway through the show during the band introduction that saw each member do a solo, the Foos delivered a mini covers section that included tracks like Yes’ “Roundabout,” Alice Cooper’s “School’s Out,” and a Van Halen tribute with performances of songs like “Eruption,” “You Really Got Me,” and “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love” that prompted Dave to say “We do Bar Mitzvahs, so if you need a Van Halen cover band…”
https://youtu.be/W451yYvFde0
While the setlist may not be too different from what the Foo Fighters could be playing throughout the current “Break A Leg Tour,” there’s no denying that the Chicago stop was particularly special. Dave not only made a note early on in the show about how the first concert he ever went to was in the Chi, right across the street actually, at the Cubby Bear where he saw Naked Raygun but he also later gave the city another shout out for giving the band another “first,” thanking the Windy City for being the home of the first sold-out Foo Fighters concert held at a stadium. Adding to that was that this particular Saturday night also just so happened to be Grohl’s mom’s birthday as well as Tracy’s birthday, Tracy being Grohl’s cousin that took him to said first-ever concert. We sang “Happy Birthday” to the two lovely ladies that helped Grohl become the Rock Star we see today. Before breaking into the set closer “Best Of You,” the Foos leader gave another shout-out to Tracy because seeing her as a 10 year old tiny kid in a Punk band made him think “Well I’m a fucking tiny kid too!” before starting his own trek to be a musician, so he advised any tiny kids in the crowd to start a band because he’s an example of how those dreams you have as a kid can indeed come true. The ovation we gave him for those words of advice broke him down and soon enough Grohl was brought to tears, seeing how the journey from an awe-struck child discovering his true calling in life on one side of Clark and Addison to playing a sold-out concert at the legendary stadium on the other side of those cross-streets some 30 years later had come full-circle. The passion with which he and the band performed “Best Of You” is somewhat indescribable, epic really, and the energy felt across the stadium at that moment still gives me the chills today.
