It seems that Dave Grohl’s recent injury—a broken leg—has somehow managed to unleash the floodgates for his full on insane metalhead resurrection and surprisingly, Fenway Park was the perfect backdrop for all of his head-exploding fury. Last night, Foo Fighters wasted no time torching into grungy stadium rockers as they ripped into “Everlong” (from their 1997 album The Colour and The Shape ) as the first song of the evening. Other favorites like “Monkey Wrench” and “Learn to Fly” soon followed and Grohl’s open sore of a voice growled at audience members to sing, promising he would return the favor exponentially. “Oh, I can fucking scream! If you want me to give it to you hard, I’ll give it to you hard!” His scream sung jabs and ragged guitar blasting didn’t deter the frontman from acknowledging that pesky affliction. “We almost didn’t make it here tonight because guess what? I broke my fucking leg! We didn’t know if Fenway was in the cards for us.”
Grohl plainly recalled the fall at a show in Sweden that led to his hospitalization and surgery right before revealing a self-made sketch that would eventually become the outlandish and awe-inducing throne he planned to occupy for the rest of the tour. Bandmates Taylor Hawkins, Nate Mendel, Chris Shiflett, and Pat Smear chuckled at Grohl’s makeshift slideshow outlining his ordeal and clearly enjoyed being along for the ride. He expressed infinite gratitude to his orthopedic doctor who happened to be in attendance at this particular show—and would subsequently blow onlookers away with a comical full rendition of The White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army.” Grohl was virtually speechless following the cover and questioned why his doctor wasn’t a singer instead.
Though the Foo Fighters’ discography can be defined as bedrock sound built on chugging guitar and pounding melodies, they slowed things down a bit for acoustic versions of their biggest hits: “My Hero” and “Times Like These.” Grohl hobbled off his throne and onto a stool (with a little assistance) to modestly strum away at both songs before diving into a cover of Queen’s “Under Pressure.” He bravely quizzed the audience about who was seeing Foo for the very first time and their response was greater than he anticipated. “I don’t mean to sound like a dick, but what the fuck were you waiting for?”
The night only intensified, climaxing with the pulsating “All My Life.” The ominous rumble of the opening chords eviscerated the stadium and the reverb of crashing drums made every crescendo that much more volatile. The gigantic plastic cast on Grohl’s leg served as the crux for an impressive guitar solo during “Outside” and he insisted “Breakout” was for all the old school Foo Fighters fans (“they’re our target demographic!”). “Best of You” was a full throttle attack of a final song that managed to be raw and burly yet lumber and surge at all the right moments. “Every fucking day of my life someone asks me what happened to rock and roll. I say you know what? Nothing happened to fucking rock and roll,” Grohl narrated. “They go ‘how come you say that?’ Every night I sit down on this stage and play songs and watch you people light up. It’s fucking simple to me.” Very simple indeed.