By Greg Cohen
The Foo Fighters exploded into the Ak Chin Pavilion on September 25, 2015 in a phenomenal, thunderous concert. Dave Grohl asked – demanded even – that the crowd scream with him until they lost their collective voice…and everyone in attendance was more than happy to oblige.
Touring in support of 
the band’s latest release, Sonic Highways, Foo Fighters’ tour began in December 2014 in South Africa and has taken the band through South America, Australia & New Zealand, North America, Europe and Asia – often times skipping back and forth between continents. The tour was forced to take an unplanned 12 day hiatus and cancel 7 shows on an European leg after lead singer and guitarist Dave Grohl broke his leg falling off a stage in Gothenburg, Sweden. Like a consummate professional, Grohl finished the show after receiving on-site medical attention (good article and pictures here), but his injury required surgery and resulted in his leg being immobilized in a cast for an extended period of time. Since his injury, Grohl has been forced to perform sitting down (mostly) in a mobile chair that resembles a throne as much as anything (see photo). Grohl’s motorized musical chair includes stage lights in a semicircle around him, moves around the stage and is adorned with guitar necks – truly something you don’t see every day. If Grohl ever wanted to be anointed the king of rock, he makes a pretty good case for it on his mobile performing throne.
Listening to the strength of Grohl’s voice and the energy he and the bad put out during the course of the show, it’s easy to be surprised that this was the 62nd performance on the Sonic Highways tour. Grohl’s energy, Taylor Hawkins drumming and the band’s performance felt like it was as fresh and spontaneous for them as it was for the fans in attendance. It is remarkable when a band can put on essentially the same show night after night for ten full months and make the audience feel like this show is a special performance just for them. Either Grohl and company are masterful actors or they truly, truly enjoy performing above all else – or maybe some combination of the two – but much to the band’s credit the performance in no way felt tired, contrived or worn out in any sense which, as mentioned above, seems simply remarkable considering how long they’ve been on the road. (continued below photos).
Photos © 2015 Greg Cohen
(Continued)
The set list included:
- Everlong
- Monkey Wrench
- Learn to Fly
- Something from Nothing
- The Pretender
- Big Me
- Congregation
- Walk
- Eruption/Your Really Got Me/Ain’t Talking’ About Love/Another One Bites the Dust
- Cold Day in the Sun
- My Hero
- Breakout
- All My Life
- Time Like These
- These Day
- In the Flesh
- What Did I Do (with Gary Clark, Jr.)
- Whole Lotta Love (with Jewel)
- This is a Call
- Skin and Bones
- Best of You
The Foo Fighters delivered everything that the crowd and their fans – both casual and hard core – could possibly have asked for in a show that went two plus hours.
