Foo Fighters Concert in Glendale, AZ

I am now completely convinced that the Foo Fighter's Dave Grohl is the most charismatic front man I've ever seen. Their performance at the Jobing.com arena in Glendale, AZ is hard evidence that the Foos are the greatest touring American rock band today.

The last time I saw the Foo Fighters was on the "One by One" tour back in 2003 when they played at the McKay Events Center in Orem. Since my dad works there I actually got to go backstage and meet them. Awesome. (yes yes I know, I was much fatter, had gross hair and braces but you know what? Dave didn't mind). They have been on multiple tours since then but for some reason have opted to stay away from Utah. WTF!?

"We have been making records for 13 f***ing years," Dave told the crowd of over 12,000 at the Jobing.com Arena in Glendale Arizona on March 2nd, "We have a lot of ground to cover."

They did just that. Grohl and company put on a 2 hour show that spanned the bands entire career from their first album "Foo Fighters" which featured Dave on every instrument, to the bands latest release "Echoes, Patience, Silence, and Grace."

The band opened the show with possibly the best track off of the latest album "Let it Die." They blistered through some of their classic hits like "Pretender," "Breakout," "Learn to Fly," and "This is a Call" before breaking into an epic jam in the middle of "Stacked Actors" featuring dueling guitar solos and an intense drum solo from Taylor Hawkins. Then something completely unexpected happened.

Let me set this up for you. The band was on a stage at one end of the arena. From the middle of the stage protruded a long runway that spanned 3/4 of the general admission area, at the end of which was an empty circle (almost looked like a trampoline). Dave spent much of his time running all around the stage and even sprinting all the way down this runway. I just figured that is what the runway was for. About 7 songs into the set Dave swapped his Gibson Signature model for an acoustic guitar. As he began to pluck the notes of "Skin and Bones" a whole new stage was lowered from the ceiling into the "trampoline" circle at the end of the runway.

Dave was joined on the new stage by the rest of his band (Taylor Hawkins - Drums, Chris Shiflett - Guitar, and Nate Mendell - Bass) featuring a few guest stars. Pat Smear (The Foo Fighters original guitarist who left the band in 1997) joined on guitar, Drew Hester on percussion, Jessy Greene on Strings, and another person who's name escapes me on the piano/organ. "Those cheap tickets don't seem so sh***y now do they?" Dave asked the crowd at the back of the arena.

They played a 6-song acoustic set including "Marigold," "My Hero," "Cold Day," and "But Honestly." Towards the end of the acoustic set Dave told the crowd that we just may be reaching the halfway point now. Every single person in the audience erupted. We knew we were going to get our moneys worth tonight. As the band walked back to the main stage everything went dark except for a single spot-light on Dave. He gave a solo performance of what I consider to be the Foo Fighters masterpiece "Everlong." During the bridge of the song the rest of the band on the main stage joined in and they rocked the last quarter of the song.

The band shredded through a few more of their massively successful songs like "Monkey Wrench," and "All My Life" before ending the set with a beautiful duet of "Big Me" featuring Jesse Greene and Dave on vocals.

Minutes after leaving the stage Dave responded to the relentless cheering of the crowd. His face appeared on a screen above the stage. He showed the camera a copy of the set list. There was tape over the last couple songs. As he began to pull the tape off to reveal the encore the volume level in the arena reached levels I had not heard since Rage Against the Machine hit the stage at Vegoose back in October. After contemplating and stroking his beard Dave gestured to the crowd indicating that he was considering playing 2 encore songs. The audience lost it. Screaming and whistling grew so loud I could feel my eyes squinting in pain. After hearing this Dave thinks a moment... looks at the camera... holds up 3 fingers and smiles.

The band came back to play 3 encores inlcluding their current single "Long Road to Ruin" and the classic "Have it All." They ended the concert with the first single from the "In Your Honor" album "Best of You," and the crowd couldn't have loved it more.

(Picture from FooFighters.com)

This show was definitely one of my favorite concerts ever, and I have been to a lot of concerts. It was worth the 22 hour round-trip road trip in Andy and Amanda's Corolla with a baby who doesn't enjoy long bouts with her car seat. Thank You Christine for getting me the ticket for Valentines day :) sorry you had to deal with a cockroach in the hotel.