Foo Fighters - National Bowl, Milton Keynes - 2nd July 2011 (Live Review)
Wednesday, 06 July 2011
Written by Katie Territt
It's not very often that the National Bowl in Milton Keynes books someone hugely impressive, but when they do, they really don't hold back. This past weekend saw US rock heavyweights Foo Fighters sell out a two-night stand at the 65,000 capacity venue, and damn did they bring the goods! A mere 15min walk from my house, the Bowl's a pretty good place to have when there's a gig like this on, so on Saturday night I prepared my rock face to be blown off by what I knew would be a memorable show.
With support from Aussie's Tame Impala, Yanks’ Death Cab For Cutie, and Scotland's finest, Biffy Clyro, the day was like a mini festival. I can't write a review of the day without mentioning Biffy's set which was absolutely superb. Having first seen the band here in MK just over 8yrs ago, it was a pretty big change in crowd size. That first gig saw a crowd of just 30 watch this new band play through their debut album, 'Blackened Sky', and now here I was at MK's biggest venue with a crowd of 65,000 seeing Biffy showcase their back catalogue of 5 albums. What a difference! From that marching intro of 'The Captain', my single of 2009 'That Golden Rule', 'Glitter & Trauma', 'Who's Got A Match', 'Shock Shock', and 'Bubbles' amongst others, Biffy played their hearts out and showed exactly why they're up there as one of the best rock bands of the moment. Highlight of the set for me was 'Blackened Sky's' 'Justboy', a song I'd not heard live in 8yrs, just awesome. 'Many Of Horror' was as poignant as ever, and 'Mountains' was a perfect ending to what couldn't have been a better warm up for the main act. Fan-bloody-tastic!
So onto the main event and it was new album 'Wasting Light' that provided the Foo Fighters’ intro with opening track 'Bridge Burning'. First single from that album 'Rope' was up next before some reminiscing with Foo's classics 'The Pretender', 'My Hero' and 'Learn To Fly'. New album tracks 'White Limo' and 'Arlandria' had an outing next before utter tune 'Breakout,' and then came the first surprise of the evening for the huge "up for it" crowd. After a fantastic introduction from Mr Grohl, Queen's drummer extraordinaire Roger Taylor took to the stage to do his thing on 'In Your Honor's 'Cold Day In The Sun'. What better treat than to have the drummer from one of the UK's biggest ever rock bands come back to play at a venue he last played in 1982 with Queen. Pretty damn special. After that treat it was onto 'Long Road To Ruin', 'Stacked Actors' and then new single 'Walk'. Next up was another guest, with Bob Mould (the day's DJ) reprising his guitar and backing vocal skills for 'Dear Rosemary' before we heard the awesome 'Monkey Wrench', 'Let It Die, 'Generator' and 'Best of You'. A gorgeous 'Skin and Bones' and an anthemic 'All My Life' finished the regular set whilst the crowd waited with baited breath to see what awaited us in the obligatory encore.
Dave strolled to a smaller stage set up in front of one of the big screens and behind the mixing desks to start the encore on his own with an acoustic 'Wheels' before starting 'Times Like These' in the same acoustic way. Before he finished the song, the rest of the band joined him onstage before finishing the song the way it was intended - full on sing-a-long anthem! A cover of Mose Allison's ‘Young Man Blues’ was up next before what was in my opinion the treat of not just the night, but the whole weekend. Rock legend Alice "fucking" Cooper (as Dave referred to him) joined the Foo's onstage to sing through his hit singles 'School's Out' and 'Eighteen'. To say my mouth was hanging open in excited shock was an understatement, and to see the crowd going mad for 'School's Out' was a moment that'll stick with me for a while. Such a perfect special guest for such a special show, awesome! There was only one possible song that could now bring night one to an end, and what better song than the gorgeous, legendary, Foo's classic, 'Everlong'. A perfect ending to a perfect day - played out in style with an impressive firework display.
Foo Fighters really are made for stadiums and the like. Their songs are made for these anthemic sing-a-long's with thousands of people, yet Dave Grohl's "gentleman of rock" persona make it easy to think they're playing just to you. He certainly knows how to bring that personal touch to masses of people and truly is an amazing front man. A two and a half hour set was just right, as was the mix of old and new songs. The special guests made the night that bit more exciting and the support bands were the best choices for getting the crowd more than up for it. If we could have a night like that every year at the Bowl, I'd be a very happy MK resident! As I've said more than once in this review, the night was nothing but legendary, thank you Foos!
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