Front Row Pics: Foo Fighters @ New York’s Citi Field Score Two Nights of Rock Greatness
By Seth M
For those of you who have followed my writing and photography on FlashWounds over the past few years, first, thank you, and second, you may recall a review I did entitled “Foo Fighters Take Over NYC!”
Well, guess what ~ THEY DID IT AGAIN!!! And this time it wasn’t a private show in a tent the night before the Super Bowl, it was two packed nights at Citi Field, home of the New York Mets.
Fans pouring into Citi Field
Getting back to that first article for a moment ~ in it, I made the following statement:
“Not everyone will agree with my naming them [Foo Fighters] one of the greatest bands of the past two decades, but formed 20 years ago in Seattle, they are one of the few great rock bands that came out of the 90s and are already reaching rock icon prestige ~ and years from now, they will have achieved full legend status.”
Let’s examine that final prediction: I said, “…years from now,” and that was just over a year and a half ago, and here they are selling out multiple nights in stadiums across the world, something not many bands can do (as a matter of fact, I don’t think any other rock band has done so this year in New York). I also wrote:
“You may have been a huge Nirvana fan and thus feel like the Foo Fighters were born out of tragedy, but I believe Dave Grohl was destined to be a front man. Sure, he’s a great drummer and I also love Them Crooked Vultures, but if you’ve ever seen the Foos live, you know Dave’s a true front man.”
“…true front man” ~ Have to say, I stand by that description as Dave proves it in spades again and again.
The Foos are currently on tour and Mr. Dave Grohl plays from a throne…Yes, you read that correctly, a thrown! No, it’s not because he’s the “King of Rock,” although he may very well be able to take the title in years to come, it’s because he designed (while high in the hospital, as he tells it) a way to keep playing shows after having fallen off a stage in Sweden. High or not, it takes one hell of a musician to get that creative in upholding the mantra of “The show must go on.”
If you didn’t know about Dave’s mishap, you probably live in a bubble, so check out these clips of the Dave breaking his leg and then returning to the stage to continue the set as a medic holds his leg in place. I mean, if that kind of dedication ~ on top of talent mixed with a sense of humor and intelligent charisma ~ doesn’t say true front man and rock star, what does?
Sure, after finishing the show he needed pins in his leg and had to cancel the rest of the dates in Europe, but now he had a throne (talk about a conversation piece for a stage set!) and an awesome story he tells nightly.
Dave Grohl and the Foo Fighters brought their show to New York City where I was fortunate enough to see them both nights, capturing pictures on my cell phone night one and “officially” from the end of the catwalk night two.
The two shows were slightly different from each other, but both included FF hits played alongside cover songs ranging from “Next to You” by The Police, “I’m The One” by Van Halen, “Detroit Rock City” by Kiss, and ”Jailbreak” by Thin Lizzy. There were other covers as well and as one of my friends commented, Dave and company do a great job keeping all the classic hits recognizable while giving them a Foo Fighters twist/sound at the same time. Speaking of sound, I don’t know who their engineer is, but he or she is amazing. I’ve seen the Foos in clubs, tents, stadiums and even festivals where they definitely weren’t able to use their own sound gear and every time they are spot on with perfect sound.
Each night also included Tom Petty’s “Breakdown” as well as special guests. Night one at Citi Field ended with Chad Smith of The Red Hot Chili Peppers on drums and Taylor Hawkins singing Faces’ hit “Stay With Me,” while night two had Darryl Jennifer and Dr. Know of the Bad Brains playing “How Low Can a Punk Get” and “The Regulator” before closing out the show with Foo Fighters’ hits “This is a Call” and “Best of You.”
Grohl told the story of his leg both nights and vowed that “I’m going to give it to you harder in this chair than I ever did on my motherfucking feet,” and he absolutely did: he and the band were in top form and played over two and a half hours for each show, going past the typical curfew.
“Rock icon(s)?” I’m pretty sure that if there were a true barometer to measure icon-ness, the Foo Fighters, with Dave at the helm, would score right up at the top; so yes, as far as I’m concerned, Dave Grohl and the Foo Fighters (whose HBO series “Sonic Highway” was, coincidentally, just nominated for 4 Emmys) are the biggest band in the world, reigning over all others.
The band will be touring the US through October then heading back to Europe to make up “The Broken Leg Dates” ~ and then who knows what’s next, but whatever it is, I have a feeling it will be in keeping with Dave and the FF’s ascent to greatness.
More on the HBO “Sonic Highways” series
