Foo Fighters @ Burswood Dome,Perth (21/04/2008)

Sat 26th Apr, 2008 in Gig Reviews

Too often, Australia is not given much respect by touring bands. Treated as a line of 5 or so shows, it equates to no more than a short stretch of an American tour. But for the Foo Fighters, Australia seems to hold a special mention.

With a massive stage, catwalk out to the middle of the crowd, and 4 large screens hung behind the band, this was a full scale show, Burswood Dome here to worship the Foos for the tour of their 6th studio album, Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace.

Kicking off with Let It Die, front man Dave Grohl made a fantastic first impression, his front-mannerisms and chugging distorted guitar bringing cheers from the 180-degree audience before him. Always the show pony, the entire set was filled with entertainment. Soon after Let It Die closed with a trademark Dave Grohl scream, it was straight into the knockout single Pretender that really hit the audience with the real fact that the real Foos were there, in the flesh.

All go, they leapt into Times Like These next before Grohl slowed down enough to actually say hello and show the audience his appreciation, telling of how he’d spent the last two days driving motorcycles around Perth, and visited Bon Scott’s grave. The best aspect of this front man is his realism. Always joking, entertaining, and telling stories, he managed to turn the dome into what felt like an enormous house party, where your mate’s bands was playing – except of a much higher standard, of course.

Cheer Up, Boys (Your Makeup Is Running) proved that the band can’t ever take themselves too seriously, but also gave them a chance to show their diversity, ending the song with a bluesy jam, well equipped with appropriately bluesy licks performed by Grohl in the centre of the dome, accessed by his show-pony catwalk. Between licks, he’d command a cheer from the audience and always got what he wanted.

Stacked Actors was a mess of grungy sounds and sweaty hair, but no-one expected the greatest rock cliché of all: the drum solo. Taylor Hawkins took some time to beat the crap out of his drum kit in an extended solo, the three others leaving the stage to refresh as Hawkins almost rivaled Grohl’s ability to soak up the attention. And then, just as a new song was expected, the band burst back on to finish off the song, failing to justify the amazing solo. But no-one cared, of course. Why would you?

Toning down from the power of their rock, an acoustic guitar wielding Grohl strummed Skin and Bones, buried under a thick red light that covered the stage dimly. Holding to his instrument, he proceeded to introduce another 4 members, the band doubling in size with percussion, keyboards, a piano accordian, third guitar, and even a violin appearing in the hands of additional member Jessy Green. Now with a more orchestral band, they presented My Hero in a new and heartbreakingly dramatic format.

Taking another chance to have a laugh with the audience, Grohl introduced the percussion player Drew Hester as “The world’s best triangle player”. Talking him up for a good 5 minutes, he finally asked if the audience had seen the Foos years ago at Rockit. Not everyone had their hands up, but he informed them that it was ok: “we weren’t as good back then, – œcause we didn’t have the fucking triangle guy”.

Then clearing a space, Grohl let Hester perform a triangle solo into his microphone, the audience roaring in both laughter and appreciation at anything from this band. Truthfully, though – the triangle solo was actually very impressive. For just 2 pieces of metal being tapped together, Hester had a lot going on.

After a while, back down to his own, Grohl reminded Australia about the Beaconsfield Mining accident a while ago, and how he wrote this song, Ballad of the Beaconsfield Miners for the very men involved in the accident. Reciting a story of how he drank heavily with them, and in a drunken state promised to include the song on the album, he later regretted that decision but still remained true to his promise, even performing the song live with a guest appearance of Kaki King, for a dual acoustic instrumental.

Everlong proved to be the greatest sing-a-long, the song introduced with just guitar and vocals, the audience all repeating the words back in unison, but the band closed with Monkey Wrench, leaving the stage for a surprisingly believable mock exit, as though there was no encore. But a few minutes later a live feed of from backstage appeared on the screens as the band, now signing to the audience, enquired as to the desires for an encore, Hawkins with a cigarette shoved up his nose suggesting 5 songs, but Grohl agreeing to 3, the band racing back onstage to close with Erase/Replace, Long Road to Ruin, and Best of You.