I have to admit that when Dave Grohl broke his leg falling off a stage recently requiring six pins to put him back together, I was hoping that the band would postpone, or even cancel, their North American tour. I believed that the ticket prices were a little high for a stadium show to begin with and I had visions of Meat Loaf performing his “Bat Out of Hell” tour from a wheel chair at St. John’s University after he had broken a leg. At the end of that show, after being confined to a standard wheel chair during the performance, the heavy set Meat Loaf dramatically pulled himself out of the chair as if he had broken out of restraints and staggered/limped forward  victoriously toward the end of the performance. I did not know it then, but Mr. Loaf was known for his athletiicism and for doing tumblesaults but not on this night and I have always felt that I did not see Mr. Loaf at the height of his powers.

While Mr. Grohl is not known for doing backflips on stage, he is a high energy rock and roller; an old school rocker who I saw roaming the Sirius studios before his Chelsea Handler Town Hall interview enjoying an afternoon Coors Light while looking for the men’s room. Dave Grohl is my kind of rock and roll star.

The last time I saw the Foo Fighters was at the Global Festival with Neil Young and Crazy Horse in Central Park when he announced it would be their last performance as the Foo Fighters. As we now know, that did not last very long. Before that I saw the Foo fighters open for the Rolling Stones at Giants Stadium many moons ago.

My hopes of a postponed Citifield performance were dashed when I read that this tour was going to generate upwards of 68 million dollars for the band. Like when The Who went on tour after John Entwhistle died unexpectedly, if the money is in the bank, they are not making refunds. YES will apparently tour this summer without the late great Chris Squier who passed away recently.. YES is a band already currently touring without Jon Anderson or Rick Wakeman and with an old Alan White on drums. The show must go on I suppose but maybe Robert Plant has got the right idea about Led Zeppelin reunions. 

My wife and I took up spots in the general admission in front of the stage extension into the middle of the orchestra. I was really expecting the worst; a money grab from one of the last of the true rock and rollers. After the two man aural assault by a very interesting Royal Blood and video clips from the Sonic Highways documentary series, the Foo Fighters curtain dropped at 8:30 PM and our rock and roll savior Dave Grohl was seen on stage sitting in a magnificent throne-like chair with a red oval backing, an FF emblazoned on it,  with rotating stage lights around it’s back and various guitar necks protruding from the sides as if it could take flight at any given moment. Grohl’s right leg was elevated and in a cast and mid song the chair traveled up the catwalk where he was right above us. It should have sucked but it did not. Dave said that he was going to rock harder in that chair than he ever did on his feet and I’ll be damned if he did exactly that. 

We should have never doubted Grohl’s will to rock. It was a great show that included video clips of Dave’s on stage accident, x-rays, and a travelogue through his recovery and special chair configuration. 

The show was not sold out as they put the Wednesday show on sale after the Thursday sold quickly. The band rocked, appeared to be having fun and, while the Foo Fighters generally do not perform encores (and there was an 11:00 PM curfew), Chad Smith from the Red Hot Chili Peppers joined the band on drums for the Faces’ “Stay With Me” with Taylor Hawkins on lead vocal which lef the crowd pretty satisfied as we headed to the Citifield parking lots.

Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins wore a Yes t-shirt throughout the show that said RIP Chris Squire which was a nice tribute to the legendary bassist.

The Foo Fighters are in Boston tonight and tomorrow for two shows at Fenway Park.

Let There Be Rock

GQ