Foo Fighters give us an outrageously monumental and triumphant 30th anniversary Rock’n’roll concert on a perfect Auckland summer evening.
Dave Grohl says it’s 31 so I won’t argue. The band has a pile of Grammys’ and were inducted into the Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame in 2021.
On an extended version of No Son of Mine he tests the audience’s passion for this. The meshed guitars can scythe through the top of your head. It is a relentless surge and fade as Grohl gets to scream repeatedly to relieve the building tension.
The drums roll on like an invading ground force. The battle is won on this alone. No son of mine will ever do/ The work of villains, the will of fools/ If you believe it, it must be true.
The band load up on hooks and riffs and fire them out, after Grohl makes the invocation. He just had to check if we were ready for three hours of this.
The Foo Fighters were a masterclass in the history and present-day power of the Art of the Riff. They have as much classic Rock of the Beatles and Rolling Stones, as they have of Punk and Grunge.
A lot of the incendiary power comes from Josh Freese on the assault and battery drums. He replaced Taylor Hawkins who died unexpectedly in 2022.
Freese has played with everybody and been a session musician on over 400 released albums. Just the fact that he played on crucial Devo songs is enough to earn respect. The big screens give him some prominence when he goes off on rapid-fire fills which are the equal of the legendary Moonie of the Who.
The rest of the platoon. Chris Shiflett lead guitar, Pat Smear rhythm guitar, Nate Mendel bass and Rami Jaffee keyboards.
This band does approach their shows like a battle to be won in a Blitzkrieg Bop.
There is the time that Grohl fell on a stage in Gothenburg, Sweden and fractured his leg. He played for two more hours before going to hospital to have it repaired with six metal pins. They weren’t nine-inch nails either.
They pack the show with guitar squalls and wrenching yells. Like huge hit The Pretender, Generator, The Sky is a Neighbourhood, Monkey Wrench, Walk. They just keep on coming.
This firepower is reflected in the energy level of the audience, which is close to a sell-out. To experience this is to understand what William Burroughs referred to as the transformational psychic power of music in front of a massed gathering.
As ancient as humanity and shamans and witch doctors. Burroughs was a confidante to many artists including Jimmy Page, Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney, Laurie Anderson, Lou Reed, and Kurt Cobain. He may have been to Grohl as well.
Many musicians have named themselves from his writing, including Steely Dan (The Dildoes), Soft Machine, Thin White Rope (Lovin’ Spoonful).
Not the Foo Fighters. A slang term from World War Two to denote a UFO. Grohl has said the name was just a holding idea whilst he pondered on a career as a solo artist. It was their Secret Name for power and domination all along, as it turned out.
Jack Black does make an unannounced cameo appearance to sing a cover of AC-DC’s Big Balls. She’s got big balls! / I’ve got big balls! A loud shirt, big beard, and a sizeable belly as he forward-rolls toward the audience on a stage tongue extension.
Straight out of School of Rock. Grohl sings his praises, referring to the time Tenacious D toured with them.
There is a sideways shuffle as Grohl takes time out to do some acoustic guitar numbers.
Statues (with Shiflett helping on electric guitar) is Folk Pop with a certain Rolling Stones ambience.
A real stunner is Ballad of the Beaconsfield Miners. The first half is solo acoustic guitar. Roots Country with shades of Blues and it sounds like the origins of Americana. The band quietly come back in, the drums heralding the shift. The electric guitars break like a fire storm.
My Hero has a slower tempo with a story line and mood reminiscent of Springsteen. It is anthemic and has a similar sound to Born to Run (the album from 1974). Towards the end it plays on the riffs of Louie Louie.
Aurora is played as a heart-felt tribute to late drummer Taylor Hawkins.
The Breeders
The Breeders are a cult Indie Rock and Pop band, formed in Dayton Ohio. Initially put together by Kim Deal of the Pixies when that project ended.
It was a two-hander with Tanya Donnelly of the Throwing Muses, but she has since departed.
The band is Kim on lead vocals and guitar, twin sister Kelley Deal lead guitar and vocals, Josephine Wiggs bass and Jim Macpherson drums.
They play a compelling set of 18 songs with does feature nice drone rhythm riffs and appropriately tasty Skronk.
They have an arsenal of hooks. They can get quirky, fraught, and dissonant as they channel some of the drone energy of the Velvet Underground.
All four albums including the most Pop-friendly in Loaded (1970).
Every song has some oddity to it as they constantly morph and shift.
They are featuring their Last Splash album from 1993, with seven songs played tonight. That album is as old as the Foo Fighters.
New Year and Cannonball from that, kick off their set. Establishes that they are a great alternative Noise band.
Saints seals the deal for strange but satisfyingly compelling music.
Invisible Man can draw from all four Velvet albums, from the ground-breaking first to the Pop-oriented Loaded.
Divine Hammer rings with Twin Peaks twanging guitar atmosphere before the music blasts off.
Drivin’ on 9 has some Surf guitar licks but is predominantly Americana Pop.
No surprise that its their most highly regarded album, and it is great to see them live for the first time.
A highlight is their cover of the Beatles Happiness is a Warm Gun. I need a fix ‘cause I’m going down/ Mother Superior jumped the gun.
That is correct, depending on the size of your balls. Jump the gun and flee the knife. The song is full of complex shifts, and I made the notes free Velvet hand Lizard about it. You may know what that means. Probably channelling Burroughs.
They can connect with Sixties Power Pop, Jesus and Mary Chain (Opened), Dick Dale’s Middle Eastern Surf guitar style (No Aloha), and death songs (Walking With A Killer).
Close out a real gem of a show with Gigantic, a Pixies cover. Kim Deal co-wrote the song.
Dick Move
Dick Move get their big chance to front a massive show and they attack with ferocity.
The Auckland group is based on the iconic Karangahape Road, very close to the Whammy Bar and Wine Cellar venues, where Lulu Macrae is the owner of Whammy.
Lucy Suttor is the charismatic and confident lead singer who blasts away with a monotone angry Punk yell. Not quite a monotone, as she has a little more variation than the singers from Crass, the most extreme and political of the original Punks of the Seventies. She is dressed in a Warriors League team kit.
The rest. Harriet Ellis, Luke Boys and Justin Rendall. One of the guys is the drummer and he gives all the engine room momentum for their songs.
It is an afternoon and evening for them. Give the drummers some!
Sixteen songs in 30 minutes in the best Ramones fashion.
I have seen them several times in much smaller venues. It’s a pity that there’s only 20,000 to see them as they open the concert at 5.30pm. Just kidding.
They are mice that roar. They look tiny on the huge black stage.
Their fast and furious set also shares some of the power of the classic Damaged album from Black Flag in 1981.
They start with Pissing. Then the Femoids Attack. Ladies Night. It’s a Wet. Rampage. Under My Skin.
Who’s the Small Man Big Tweet? It’s the moron guy with a small dick behind me yelling obscenities between songs. That gives him little room, thankfully. He must have felt threatened by their name.
Aim a round house kick to the Stooges with I Am Your Dog.
There is one with lyrics my tears, my fears/ Don’t fuck with me, fuck with her.
Closing song Feel Better has some Surf Punk licks.
And then Dick Move are off and cheering in triumph.
Foo Fighters are close to finishing when they launch into The Best of You. Anthemic, with some screamed vocals and it has an insistent rhythm like the best of Gary Glitter and his superlative Glitter Band.
When they played this at the Wembley Arena in 2009, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones turned up to help. One of my best moments said Grohl.
First encore is The Teacher, and it has the crunch and brutal power of Led Zeppelin. The mantra is where will I wake up?
Close with Everlong and everyone gets to dance one more time to a rager.
Jack Black’s School of Rock Teacher may have said once that the Foo Fighters are the Dictionary of Rock’n’Roll.
Rev. Orange Peel
Photos by Doug Peters
The Foo Fighters
The Breeders
Dick Move
