An outstanding rock show from seasoned professionals who are outdone by no one in the live space
Presented by: Frontier Touring
Reviewed: 2 Dec, 2023
It’s been a challenging time for the Foo Fighters and their fans of late. With the death of Drummer Taylor Hawkins in 2022, it looked as though the world might be starved of live Foo Fighters gigs for a while. None of us assumed it would be forever, we all knew they’d bounce back eventually. But I don’t think any of us expected to see them back on live stages quite so soon, and their energy has not been dented at all.
Playing at what has become their Adelaide home, Coopers Stadium in Hindmarsh, the band knows what their audience want and gave it to them in spades. As always, the venue was undersized for such a high-profile band, with line-ups for the toilets and refreshments just insufferably long. The sound quality was excellent though, with a visual extravaganza to match.
To open, Body Type came out swinging, with their punk rock style and all female line up. Next up was Aussie larrikin favourites The Chats, who had the crowd rocking with their hit singles Pub Feed and Smoko, but were almost upstaged by their aging Roadie, who received a rousing round of applause from the crowd for doing no more than tuning the guitars. This crowd was up for a good time.
Dave Grohl knows how to open a set, and the opening rendition of All My Life did not disappoint, with Pretender absolutely blowing the proverbial roof off. Josh Freese (of Devo fame) was introduced as the new drummer, with a heartfelt tribute to Hawkins (and his love of bicycles) later on in the show.
Times Like These had the whole crowd singing along, with Stacked Actors, My Hero, Monkey Wrench, This Is A Call, and Times Like These also whipping up an already peaking crowd. The band’s rendition of the classic AC/DC hit Big Balls with a local Adelaide singer was an unexpected treat.
The expected Everlong encore served as a fitting ending to an outstanding rock show from seasoned professionals who are outdone by no one in the live space.
We know they’ll be back, and if you missed them this time, don’t make the same mistake again.
Reviewed by Doug Phillips
Photo credit: Samuel Phillips
Venue: Coopers Stadium
Season: ended