Foo Fighters 10/4/07

The long, shaggy haired Dave Grohl certainly has the "Grohl"den touch.  His intentions are clear:  He wants nothing more than to rock your face off.  Mission accomplished, sir.  After viewing the high-energy opening band, HiFi Handgrenades, he and his band wasted no time as there was no time to waste when you have that many hit songs to rock through.  They got the constantly played on terrestrial radio "The Pretender" out of the way by the second song along with some other unfamiliar tunes from the new album Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace.  Pat Smear, former Nirvana band-mate and ex Foo Fighter, was along for the ride with the band playing rhythm guitar on various songs like their first hit "I'll Stick Around" throughout the night.  During the song "Stacked Actors," (that's right D-dog, you missed it) Dave went down into the crowd and I believe he got up on the bar on the left while still playing and did a shot of Jagr.  I couldn't say for sure because we were second row on the balcony, with the rest of the older crowd (we were talking to a kid while waiting in line wearing a Nirvana T-shirt who said he was 2 years old when Cobain died... talk about a reality check), and he was underneath us, but he mentioned later that he enjoyed his shot.  After that, the Foos toned it down a little with an acoustic set that included 5 songs that started with "Skin and Bones" and ended with "Everlong" which they burst back to rockin out at the close of the classic.  Sadly, they accidentally skipped over "D.O.A." in the encore set, but he did apologize to the violinist that was with the group.  It would have been nice to hear "This is a Call" and the awesome cover of Prince's "Darling Nicky" but, as usual, there is never enough time.  With an epileptic light show, tremendous energy, and Taylor Hawkins looking like a long haired Animal from The Muppets on drums, it was obvious these guys were put on earth to be on stage.  If you've never seen this band, I've seen them three times and, like a fine wine, they only get better with age.