It’s rare that one band dominates almost two decades in their genre, rarer still that that band should come to Belfast. Foo Fighter’s last trip to Ireland was a 2007 Marlay Park headliner in Dublin while front-man Dave Grohl was last in Belfast as part of Nirvana in 1992. The eagerly anticipated arrival of the biggest band in rock for the last twenty years was finally realised as the Foo Fighters launched into a mammoth two hour set for a sell out Belfast crowd.
Preceded by local rockers Trucker Diablo, Dublin band The Minutes and The Black Keys, Grohl and co more than made up for the crowd’s seventeen year wait, launching into the explosive ‘White Limo’ from the band’s most recent album, ‘Wasting Light.’ From the first chord, band and audience were one as every beat was clapped and every lyric roared into the unusually rain-free Belfast night.
Perched on a speaker cabinet on stage throughout the set was Violet Grohl who, from the best seat, looked on as her rock-star father gave a master class in performance. Dave Grohl controlled and conducted from start to finish, covering every available inch of stage and encouraging the crowd to get involved, bridging the gap between performers and audience. To the joy of the crowd, Grohl harangued a girl who, while sitting on a friend’s shoulders, made a phone call during a song only to swiftly hang-up having been spotted. Feigning offence, Grohl ordered the call be resumed and continued the song as the embarrassed caller held her phone aloft. The crowd booed and jeered pantomime style as the band light-heartedly scolded the offender but within seconds resumed singing along as the song restarted.
In a set laden with the band’s greatest hits, new tracks from their latest album and old songs to appease fans loyal from the start, Grohl promised to atone for the band’s absence from the north of Ireland and vowed to return to tour an as yet unwritten new record. ‘Wheels’, dedicated to his daughter and ‘Times Like These’ were performed solo by Grohl before drummer Hawkins, guitarists Pat Smear and Chris Schiflett and bassist Nate Mendel returned for closer ‘Everlong.’ An estimated 70,000 strong crowd poured out of the venue having seen the rock band of this generation at their peak and satisfied with the promise of a return in the not too distant future.
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Preceded by local rockers Trucker Diablo, Dublin band The Minutes and The Black Keys, Grohl and co more than made up for the crowd’s seventeen year wait, launching into the explosive ‘White Limo’ from the band’s most recent album, ‘Wasting Light.’ From the first chord, band and audience were one as every beat was clapped and every lyric roared into the unusually rain-free Belfast night.
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