Foo Fighters: From A**hole to Motherf***er

I knew I wanted to see them as soon as they announced the gig last year. However I wasn’t happy with the ticket prices. Although it’s actually quite normal for stadium gig to have super expensive tickets. But I wanted to have a shirt to remember this gig so I waited and waited and luckily I got my chance a day before the gig!
I decided to drive to the gig because I didn’t want to be sitting on the overly full SBB train back to Zurich. It was a great decision for the way back but driving there was absolutely madness. I felt like everyone in Switzerland was “driving” to Bern. I now really feel for those people who do this every time coming to Zurich. I feel very blessed to be living here and being able to see big stars within a normal driving distance. Thanks to this lovely drive I missed out on The Kills and Wolf Alice. But I did hear that especially Wolf Alice killed it! 🙂 If you want to read more about the two supports check out Sarah’s review: Planetsarah.ch.

After a long wait in the queue we literally made it in took our place and the gig started! I stood there and watched these legends take the stage. I was in awe. I started to have a bit of a crush on Dave Grohl a few years back and since then I watched a few documentaries (Sound City, Foo Fighters Back and Forth) that he produced which introduced properly to rock music and the Foo Fighters. With an impressive energy the lads started with “Run”, “All my Life” and “Learn to fly”. 35’000 people rocked to those songs and sang a long. I loved the atmosphere. Mosh pits started to form itselves and normal people stage diving to the front. When they found their way to the front on the hands of the people the security staff members took them down and let them to the side. But they weren’t angry with them. They were friendly and they understood that this is part of a rock gig like this!

We were only 3 songs in and the Foo Fighters played a cracker: “The Pretender”. Hearing that song live is lit (that’s how a very young person would say it ;-)). Normally with big gigs like that you see a lot of people just going because it is what you have to do to be trendy. However I didn’t feel like that with the Foo Fighters. I saw a lot of people knowing the lyrics and properly rock out to those legendary songs!

Are you ready Motherf*****? – Dave Grohl

“Sky is a Neighborhood” off their newest record “Concrete and Gold” was next. Unfortunately I missed out on the start of the incredible drum solo of Taylor Hawkins during “Rope” because my own belly started his own drum solo 😉 With a bite to eat I could properly enjoy the rest of the solo and the concert. I was surprised to see that the whole drum set was high up and that made sure that everyone could see him. It came down after the song like a little UFO 🙂 (I see what you guys did there;-))

Finally during “Sunday Rain” and “My Hero” Dave Grohl used their long runway and spoke a bit more with the audience. Unfortunately I couldn’t see him on that middle stage because of the two sound tents on each side. At least I could hear him and that what he said: “Who here is seeing us for the first time?” Lots of people yelled or grunted. So he said:

Ass*****! Where have you been?

Haha damn I thought I am an a**hole! But hey 3 years ago you had to cancel the gig because you fell of the stage! So who is the a**hole now? 😉

Anyway let’s continue with another amazing song “These Days”! God my poor neck. I don’t know how the Foo Fighters do this head banging everyday! Up next was “Walk”. And now Dave Grohl asked us if we knew Alice Cooper?! Hell yeah I do! I met him at a tram station 8 years ago! 😀 So they played a cover “Under my Wheels” next. Finally it was time to introduce the others! On lead guitar we have Chris Shiflett so he started his solo – but it was enough – “We want more”! After another incredibly talented solo on his guitar Dave Grohl and the crowd still wanted more! This continued with Nate Mendel on bass, Rami Jaffee on keys and Pat Smear on guitar. During those introductions they mixed in some very famous songs like “It’s so Easy”, “Another bites the Dust”, “Imagine”, “Jump” and “Blitzkrieg Bop”.

Foo Fighters continued the little cover section with Queen’s “Under Pressure” that turned into a very old song and lots of the original Motherf*****s knew it “Monkey Wrench”. It was time for a slow song and even a bit of a romantic settings with all the lights up for “Wheels”. I gotta say The Foo Fans are very creative. They took the phone and held it against their beer which created a beautiful yellow light. I loved it! So we had beer lights, actual lighters and phone lights – it looked great! For “La Dee Da” Dave Grohl brought Alison Mosshart from The Kills back on stage. Together they sang a rock duet and for me it was the first time to see her. I loved her energy and I liked her voice.

Around two hours flew by and Dave Grohl said we have about 25mins left before they shut us off. We won’t be leaving the stage, we will play through it as long as we can. I liked that a lot 🙂 I used the time during “Breakout” and “Dirty Water” to wander around the stadium and have a look at the stage from different angles. And I finally saw Rami on keys! haha

Foo Fighters finished off with a bang! Three uber hits that left no fan with any wishes: “Times like these”, “Best of you” and “Everlong”! After 2 hours and 40 mins I was impressed and transformed from an a**hole to a motherf******! Amazing how proud you can be to be called mofo! 😀
Are you a motherf*****? So share your experience here!

Check out my latest gigs: Snow Patrol/ Travis, Caribana Festival, Gavin James