There is something very special about Dave Grohl.
With his deep chestnut eyes, suave untamed locks and cheeky boyish grin, it is easy to see why this man is so deeply beloved in the music industry.
Labelled as the “nicest guy in rock and roll” from way back, his calming aura and welcoming energy was stunningly palpable on Saturday night as he graced the stage at Sydney’s Accor Stadium.
“Welcome to the Foo Fighters rock n’ roll show, that’s what we’re here to do,” he smiled, with the crowd of more than 75,000 feeling like we were being embraced in a giant hug from the 54-year-old frontman.
“Everybody knows this, and I’m not just saying it because we’re here. Australia is one of our favourite f**king places in the entire world.
“It is. It’s like a home away from home. We’ve been coming here for almost 28 years.
“And I will say this, Australia more than anywhere else in the rest of the world, has a new generation of rock people that are coming out to the shows. I’m glad you’re here.”
Sweltering temperatures
It was one of the hottest days of the year, with temperatures exploding to over 42 degrees in some parts of Sydney.
The air was heavy and humid, but that did not stop the die hard fans from lining up in the wee hours of the morning.
One Foo Fighter fanatic even had a beach tent propped up before gates opened, adorned with a delightful photograph of Grohl’s face.
They had dubbed it the “Dave Cave”.
The heatwave also did not stop some from dressing in grungy flannel shirts and ripped jeans to pay homage to the US rocker.
Grohl himself appeared to be just as hot and sweaty as all of us in the crowd, with the rock star constantly dumping entire cups of water over his head to get some reprieve.
“Damn, it’s toasty in here!” he yelled, as droplets cascaded down his face.
Turning away from the audience, he had the crowd erupt into a fight of laughter as he began to sway from side to side in a little strip tease.
“What the hell was I thinking wearing two shirts?” he asked, slowly removing his long-sleeved button up and flailing it around his head, revealing a simple black tee underneath.
“That was the stupidest thing I’ve ever done. Let’s cool it down, turn the lights down.
“I can feel that breeze, that feels good. We don’t need lights do we? F**k that!”
Asking for the warm spotlights to be turned off for a minute, he sighed in relief and encouraged the audience to light up their phone torches, resulting in a stunning sea of glowing dots hovering around the stadium.
Little did we know we were all part of rock history.
According to Grohl, this concert was the biggest Foo Fighters show the band had ever performed in Australia over the last almost three decades of touring down under.
The frontman was accompanied by Nate Mendel, Pat Smear, Chris Shiflett, Rami Jaffee and Josh Freese, who joined the band in May 2023, after Hawkins’ death.
It was the first time the band had performed in Australia with their new drummer.
The American musician is known is known for being in new wave group Devo, as well as playing in major bands like Guns N Roses and Nine Inch Nails over the years.
He has also been a session drummer for other huge name music groups at different times throughout his life.
He appeared both nervous and excited, but quickly won over the crowd with his exceptional percussion skills and his very Australian singlet that anounced to us that he was “Not Here To F**k Spiders”.
A touching tribute
“Let me introduce you to the person who made it possible for us to come out and tour,” Grohl said, pointing to a beaming Freese.
“He might seem new to you, but he’s been in every band you’ve ever listened to on the radio, and more.”
The Foos revved the show up by starting with All My Life (2002), No Son Of Mine (2021), Rescued (2023) and The Pretender (2007), a fan favourite.
They then launched into a few classics such as Times Likes These (2002), Hero (1997),` Learn to Fly (1999) and Breakout (1999), which famously featured in the 2000 comedy Me, Myself, and Irene, starring Jim Carey and Renée Zellweger.
The crowd was enamoured when one of the band’s top hits Monkey Wrench (1997) began to play, launching everyone in the stands off their feet again.
Despite the excitement that was bouncing around that stadium, there was an underlying sting of sadness and longing.
Something – or someone – was missing, and we all knew it.
“We’d like to dedicate this song to our dear friend Taylor Hawkins,” Grohl announced, stating that the band’s song Aurora (1999) was the late drummer’s favourite Foo Fighters tune.
“I think this [Australia] was one of his favourite places in the world too. I know it was.
“When he and I used to come down here, look out.
“This was his favourite Foo Fighters song, and it was the first one we wrote together. So whenever we play it, I like to dedicate it to him.
“Let’s hear it for Taylor.”
After a period of stifling stillness, a refreshing and comforting breeze wafted through the emotionally-charged stadium.
“That’s Taylor, right there,” a fan next to us said, her eyes tearing up.
After wrapping up their tune Best Of You (2005), Grohl thanked the crowd and quickly whisked the band offstage.
But we were not done yet.
It was not long before chants of “Encore!” filled the arena, with plenty of fans desperately slapping chairs, whistling and clapping to bring the boys back on stage.
Before we knew it, they reappeared, looking a bit more hydrated than moments earlier.
They busted out one of their newer songs The Teacher (2023) before ending their stellar show with their signature track Everlong (1997).
The hauntingly soft opening notes of the final song enchant the audience, and people sang their hearts out before the final farewell.
“Thank you. Thank you for 28 years of making us want to come back to Australia over and over again, year after year.”
A history of loss
It was the band’s first time in Australia since their one-night-only Geelong concert in March 2022.
Just two weeks later, drummer Taylor Hawkins – who had been with the band since 1997 – would be found dead in a Bogota, Colombia, hotel room. He was just 50 years old.
The father-of-three’s cause of death was reported to be due to a ‘cardiovascular collapse’, with local newspapers stating that his heart weighed double the normal amount when he died.
“The Foo Fighters family is devastated by the tragic and untimely loss of our beloved Taylor Hawkins,” the band’s Instagram page posted after Hawkins’ passing.
“His musical spirit and infectious laughter will live on with us all together. Our hearts go out to his wife, children and family.”
It sadly was not the first time Dave Grohl had suffered the unimaginable loss of a friend and bandmate.
Joining Seattle-based grunge band Nirvana in 1990, the then 22-year-old musician – alongside singer and guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic – would go on to create some of the most era-defining music of all time.
The band already found moderate success with their album Bleach (1989), recorded with drummer Chad Channing, who later left the group in early 1990.
With Grohl as their new drummer, Nirvana went on to release their second studio album Nevermind (1991), which featured their hit song Smells Like Teen Spirit, shooting them to worldwide fame.
This was followed up with the wildly popular In Utero (1993) as well as the live jams appearing on their MTV Unplugged in New York (1994) record.
The trio appeared to be on top of the world before the unthinkable happened.
Kurt Cobain was just 27 when he was found to have died by suicide in April 1994, leaving behind his wife Courtney Love and daughter Frances Bean Cobain.
In the immediate aftermath of his death, David Grohl said he was not even able to find solace in his one true medicine – music.
Starting the Foos
“After Kurt died, I really couldn’t even turn on the radio, and I put the instruments away – even hearing music hurt, And it was that way for a few months,” he told BBC Radio 4.
“I was still in Seattle, and I just felt, ‘I gotta get out.’ I [had to] go somewhere where I could just disappear and sort through my life, and try to figure out what to do next.”
His soul-searching took him to Ireland, where he explained that he got a sign from the universe to begin the healing process.
It was during this time that would light the fire inside him to begin writing the songs that would eventually become the very first Foo Fighters hits.
“I was winding around these country roads, so beautiful, and I was finding peace … and I come upon this hitchhiker, and I was considering picking him up,” he told Ultimate Classic Rock.
“I saw that he had a Kurt Cobain T-shirt. And to me that meant: ‘You can’t outrun this thing, so it’s time to push through and find some sort of continuation.’
“So I flew home and I immediately started recording those Foo Fighter songs.”
With the weight of Cobain’s death weighing heavily on him, songwriting started to become a necessity for healing.
“I had to do it to survive, to get on with life,” he explained.
“And I’m glad I did.”
The Foo Fighters first album, named after the band’s name, was released in 1995 and was written and recorded entirely by Grohl.
This was followed by their extremely successful record The Colour and the Shape in 1997, which was the first album recorded as a full band.
Their singles Monkey Wrench, Everlong and My Hero shot the Foo Fightersinto household fame.
The rockers have since released nine more albums, with their latest But Here We Are debuting in June 2023.
The Foos Fighters have been on a world tour since May 2023, following two heartfelt tribute shows for Taylor Hawkins in both London and Los Angeles in September 2022.
The band has been performing shows across the USA, as well as concerts in Japan, Brazil, Germany and Abu Dhabi, before coming down under on November 26.
Hosted by Frontier Touring, they have had sellout shows in Perth, Adelaide and Melbourne so far, before their Sydney show on Saturday night.
They will play their final Australian show in Brisbane on Tuesday, before heading over to New Zealand in late January for shows in Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington.
jasmine.kazlauskas@news.com.au