When the rumours started circulating that the Foo Fighters were going to be playing three UK club shows alongside their headline slot at the closing ceremony of the Invitcus games this coming Sunday, the last place that anyone expected them to play was Concorde 2 in Brighton… Yet they did just that. The first of three club shows, proved why the Foos are one of the best live acts currently on the scene and will go down as one of the best acts ever to play a live set.
Accustomed to playing larger venues than the 600 capacity Concorde 2, the band has never failed to create chaos and mayhem wherever they play. Deciding to play a lot of rare songs, some of which haven’t been played for many years, they delved into their back catalogue as well as playing many of the hits which have become a staple of their live set. Playing under the guise of ‘The Holy Shits’ and opening with the energetic and emotive ‘Enough Space’, the crowd created the perfect atmosphere, with many diehard fans not being able to believe their luck as to be able to see this show, as well as hearing some classic Foos. Playing for near two hours, the rarities were very much weighted with the hits, and the crowd sang every single word back.
Frontman Dave Grohl was on top form, bantering with the crowd, talking up the history of the Foos, commenting on the venue having not changed since they were last there, calling it ‘a f*cking sweatbox, just like the last time’. ‘I’ll Stick Around’ followed and the crowd collapsed into pandemonium. Grohl then decided it was time to slow things down a tad, before launching into ‘Big Me’ one of the love songs as he so eloquently put it. This signaled the start of the ‘hits’ aka the classic Foo Fighters set list. A ferocious ‘Rope’ followed ‘Generator’, but the biggest cheer of the night so far was saved for a near ten-minute rendition of ‘The Pretender’ with extended bridge and breakdown for good measure.
Grohl also acknowledged that the UK’s tribute act for the band ‘UK Foo Fighters’ were in the building, before inviting the lead singer ‘Jay’ up on stage to sing ‘White Limo’ which was a surreal moment. Looking at the stage, you’d be hard pressed to tell who was the real Grohl! After a plug for the UK Foo Fighters playing at the Concorde 2 themselves, the originals got back to it and delivered hit after hit, including a cover of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers ‘Breakdown’. The main set concluded with a song, which the Foo Fighters wrote after visiting the UK for the first time, and possibly had the biggest singalong of the night ‘My Hero’. ‘Hey, Johnny Park!’ and surprisingly ‘Everlong’ rounded out the main set after which the Foos left to make the crowd wait for a good 5 minutes, building the anticipation for an electric encore.
Striding back onstage, the front man pointed out that there were ‘a good 2000 people stood outside, listening in’ and after a muted reply from that crowd, they finished on an incendiary ‘All My Life’. Even without playing ‘Best of You’ or ‘Times Like These’, the Foo Fighters showed why they’re one of the best bands in the world today. Not many bands could come to a tiny venue like this and treat it like it was Wembley Stadium. They did just that, and with a perfect sound to boot.
Joking about a ‘week of Wembley’ shows, Grohl was masterful throughout, and all the members played their parts to 110% accuracy. No hiccups, no bad atmosphere and best of all no dodgy sound. Perfect show.
Foo Fighters are back and with a new album on the horizon, that week at Wembley Stadium may not be far away…
Sonic Highways is available on the 8th November 2014.
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