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Dave Grohl, the old powerhouse drummer for Nirvana, and now the frontman the alt rock band Foo Fighters, visited Pittsburgh on the night of Tuesday, August 25th. Bringing in a crowd of more than 17,000, the audience waited anxiously for the curtain to drop and reveal the band. As the pavilion went dark and the crowd erupted in cheers and claps, the sound of guitar riffs could be heard. The band came out in a bigger, flashier style than usual. It started the metal screams of Grohl before the curtain hailing their famous logo came down.
When the band was revealed, all attention went to Grohl, with his headbanging, hair flying, in his vibrant throne he sat on top of. He is in this custom throne because of a leg injury he received in June in Sweden when he “jammed too hard” during their smash hit “Monkey Wrench” and took a plummet off of the edge of the stage. But with his “the show must go on” attitude, his lighting crew built a custom throne for him to play on stage, complete with guitar holders, lights, and an illuminating logo, it allowed him to play on stage with an injury. Surprisingly, the band opened with their 1995 hit “Everlong” which the band usually ends the show on, and then went on to perform huge hits all in a row, such as “Monkey Wrench”, “Learn to Fly”, and their new single “Something from Nothing” from the newest album “Something from Nothing”. The decibel level was much higher under the pavilion rather than out in the lawn, and as he screams into the microphone, the vocal power is almost unbearable. He even laughingly called out someone for holding their ears during one of them.
The band proceeded to play their setlist: The Pretender, Big Me, Congregation and Walk, and then paused to play the intros to classic rock songs, like Van Halen’s “I’m the One”, “Roundabout” by Yes, and “School’s Out” by Alice Cooper. Taylor Hawkins, the drummer, played all of the cover songs flawlessly, but I’m not saying no one else did, but he stood out. If that wasn’t impressive enough, he sang 2 of the covers while playing his instrument, which is a very very difficult thing to do.
Drummer Taylor Hawkins, pictured on the screens, impressed our reviewer with playing and singing flawlessly for a few songs during the concert
From what I looked at in the previous show’s playlists, they should have played more covers, but cut it short when Grohl stated he was “not in the mood”. They played one cover all the way through, which was Queen’s “Under Pressure”, which was superb. They then went into more of the hits: “All My Life” , “Times Like These”, “These Days” and “Rope”, and then slowed it down again with “Skin and Bones”, adding a little bit of accordion by their keyboard player.
When the show ended with the huge hit song “Best of You”, I was a little let down. They did not play their famous three hour long show. They cut it relatively short which was all in all, disappointing, but it was still one of the best shows I have ever seen. I did not expect them to open their show with the song that they usually close their shows with. It was a little odd. What I did expect though was a good old fashioned, loud rock and roll show, and that is exactly what I received. And I also did not expect them to play a song that was not even planned; a fan with a sign displaying the title of a song that they haven’t played live in years was in the pit right in front of the stage. The sign said “Low”. Grohl acknowledged it and, to everyone’s surprise, played the song. This was towards the middle of their setlist.
In conclusion, this was a very very great show and it will be known as the Throne Tour, due to the fact of the frontman’s giant throne on stage. There were some things I would have liked here and there but overall, it will be one that I will remember.
Congratulations on the terrific article! When reading this, I felt as though I was there in person.
Beautiful. Job, Zac
Love, Poppy