“This is a cool place for a rock show.” Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl was doing what he normally does at shows: being a showman. But, he recognized 713 Music Hall was new and he seemed to enjoy it. “We can relax and get loose up here.”
With the theater-like size and the general admission space on the floor, it felt almost like a club and the band seemed to relish the cozy confines as they played well over two ours of songs from their 28-year career.
It was a departure for what is arguably one of the few remaining arena rock bands to play a venue that barely holds 5,000 people. But given that the Foo’s hadn’t been here in five years and this was their first visit since the death of their beloved long time drummer Taylor Hawkins, it made sense and fit the vibe of the show.
It’s hard to imagine an artist that has been through more drama and tragedy than Grohl. He created Foo Fighters alone as almost therapy after the suicide of bandmate and Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain. In 2022, he lost Hawkins, his drummer and best friend, as well as his mother, Virginia Grohl, within eight months of one another. It’s a miracle the Foo Fighters are even still performing, but the addition of veteran touring drummer Josh Freese seemed to help pull the band off life support and get them working again.
Admittedly, this was a different kind of show for the band for those who had seen them before. Setting aside the smaller surroundings, Freese brings a different energy than Hawkins and the Foos are still trying to find their footing in the new configuration. Grohl remains a jokester and a big talker on stage. “If you let me talk, we’ll be here all night,” and the band gave their new drummer plenty of room to unleash some of his incredible rock chops honed over decades of playing with bands like Devo, Nine Inch Nails and others.
But, there was also a kind of detachment that was evident for much of the set, which was wedged in between headlining the Austin City Limits Music Festival on two separate weekends. This is by no means a critique. In fact, for all of Grohl’s funny banter and the typical playing around with songs within songs (adding the guitar riff from Lenny Kravitz’s “Are You Gonna Go My Way” to as many songs as possible was apparently the theme of the night), there was also a kind of seriousness that led portions of the set to be performed with surgical precision.
Songs from their new album But Here We Are, with nearly every track a reflection on the aftermath of Hawkins’ death, were both the high and low points of the night in terms of mood. In “Under You,” Grohl hopes one day he will be able to move on from the tragedy that nearly derailed the band, but he clearly isn’t there quite yet. None of them are.
For all the perfection of every crafted note, there was still a bit of magic missing easily attributed to the lightness of Hawkins’ personality and the ease of his relationship with Grohl. The former drummer was only mentioned once by name when the band did what Grohl said was “Taylor’s favorite song,” “Aurora” from 1999’s There is Nothing Left to Lose. It was a poignant and beautiful, but also somber, the sound of a band still clawing its way through a devastating loss.
The biggest crescendos happened in the usual places: “Best of You,” “My Hero,” “Monkey Wrench,” “All My Life,” and “The Pretender.” But the unexpected and expanded versions of But Here We Are‘s “The Teacher” and the “Savior Breath,” from the 2015 EP Saint Cecilia were dramatic and cathartic, especially as two of the final three songs of the night. The band has threatened in the past to do a full on prog rock album and, on this night, those two songs got close to that promise.
In the end, they closed with the familiar, if somewhat perfunctory, “Everlong.” The band, including guitarist Chris Shiflett, bassist Nate Mendel, keyboardist Rami Jaffee, stalwart guitarist Pat Smear, Grohl and Freese, sounded as tight as any time I have ever heard them, maybe even tighter than usual.
But that previous looseness also lended itself to their mystique, the world’s biggest and most talented bar band. They have all the skill and determination to find a new magic going forward, and whatever may have been missing certainly didn’t take any of the luster off of another killer set from a bunch of seasoned pros.
And, let’s face it, as long as Grohl is fronting them and giving shout outs to guys wearing Lemmy (the deceased front man from legendary heavy metal trio Motorhead) T-shirts, these shows will always be entertaining. Maybe, at some point, the band will be out from under Hawkins and can get back some mojo — or generate something new. Until then, they are still the best damn rock band on the planet and that’s more than enough.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2023.
