Foo Fighters fan Wendy Reeves was among the 25,000 strong crowd which danced and sang the troubles of the past two years away and welcomed live music back to Victoria at GMHBH Stadium on Friday 4 March.
We came in our thousands, some boarding planes for the first time since the pandemic hit, others tackling unfamiliar traffic congestion or squeezing into over-crowded trains.
It was raining, the queues were long and our feet slipped around in the mud. But we didn’t care. This was the Foo Fighters, in the first live stadium concert in Australia since Covid.
The youngest were strapped to the chests of their parents, while those with silver in their hair lined up in the rain to nab the latest merchandise.
Before arriving at the venue, a well-meaning teenage shop assistant shared with me her thoughts.
“One of my friends is going to the concert tonight…yeah she’s into all the old bands, which is cute.”
The Foo Fighters formed some 26 years ago, and for those like me who had followed Dave Grohl from his Nirvana days of the early 1990s, I couldn’t argue that was a long time.
Once nightfall hit Geelong, a lone figure took to the front of the stage holding his signature blue Gibson Trini Lopez guitar. The crowd erupted as Foo Fighters front-man Dave Grohl strolled from one end of the stage to the other, stopping along the way to absorb the energy of the crowd. Throwing his hands into the air in exuberance, it was evident that Grohl obtained his vitality and drive from performing live and he was energised by the audience that was before him.
That unmistakable voice of Grohl permeated the stillness with “I…I’m a one-way motorway…I’m the one that drives away, then follows you back home…” and what followed was 2 and 1/2hrs of solid rock ‘n’ roll. No breaks, just one incredible song after another.
It had been a long time between drinks for Foo Fighters fans, with the last live tour of Australia taking place January 2018.
In the second year of the Covid-19 pandemic that shut down the live music industry, the Foo Fighters began to drip-feed fans, releasing their 10th studio album Medicine at Midnight in January 2021.
Just as we had the lyrics memorised from the new album, Dave Grohl gave us something new to chew on, his memoir The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music.
Then in the week preceding the announcement of this concert, their first horror/comedy film Studio 666 hit select movie theatres around the country.
Now, it was time for 25,000 of us to experience the magic of the Foo Fighters live. Within minutes, Dave Grohl’s lyrics and iconic guitar riffs re-ignited our spirits and Taylor Hawkins’ drums vibrated through our rib-cages.
In addition to playing the latest songs from the Medicine at Midnight album, Grohl made sure he looked after the “old school” fans like myself, with classics including The Pretender, Rope, This is a Call, Break Out and Monkey Wrench. Not forgetting the huge hits Learn to Fly, My Hero, Best of You and Everlong.
The crowds were also treated to a cover of Queen’s hit Somebody to Love, with Taylor Hawkins relinquishing the drumkit to serenade the audience in his trademark singlet and boardshorts. Grohl seemed to relish the opportunity to slip back behind the drums to provide structure to the song and give Hawkins the spotlight.
Prior to the last song of the night, Dave Grohl told the audience he couldn’t wait to come back to Australia.
“Thanks for coming out here tonight! We should do it more often,” he said.
Yes Dave, we should. See you again in December.
