Saturday, April 26, 2008

Foo Fighters - Rod Laver Arena

Foo Fighters
Rod Laver Arena
Friday 25th April 2008

As an early teen I was a Nirvana fan, the tragic school girl kind that cried her little eyes out when Kurt shot himself... When Foo Fighters started I got their album immediately as Dave was always of interest to me (I have a thing for drummers)... Their first two albums were the soundtrack to my life and when they came out in the late nineties I saw them at the Palace and festival hall with JF for $30 a pop... I have since seen them at Big Day Out, mildly enjoyed their albums until 'Echoes Silence Patience and Grace'... This album so reminded me of their earlier albums and quickly became a constant in my car, before they announced their tour I said to Mark that if they came out - I had to see them again...

They announced their tour, Michelle hooked us up with some great seated tickets (just feel too old for the mosh pit!) and last night we headed to Richmond to park our car... On the walk there a dude walking along with his mates dropped something out of back pocket, I alerted him, Mark ran off into where the wind was taking it, and it was 2 of his tickets for the show! They were stoked! We thought it was hilarious that this dude could have easily lost his ticket and his mates ticket and then wtf would he do? Anyways Mich and Sek were on time, we made our way in... They queued for toilets beer and the like, I was ready and after waiting a little just made my way in, I couldn't miss the start for the sake of beer...

As they started my heart was pounding so hard, and I was so excited I was having trouble breathing... They started with their new stuff, Pretender was second and not one person got up, I was stupified, but think its rude to be the first to stand, soon enough most people were standing, and the freedom to move was great! They had the stage set up so Dave could walk to each side of the stage out to where people were sat and right down the middle of the stage to a big round podium type thing... He was charming and engaging, and both him and the band were in great form... Pumping out big track after big track... I was in heaven...

45 or so minutes in they made their way down to this podium and from the sky comes a landing with all their instruments and then some, extra band members joined the stage... This was where they did some of their acoustic and slower stuff, I was so hot I was glad to sit for a little bit and just take it all in... Taylor sang a song, Kaki King joined him to play the Beaconsfield Miners track, everyone was introduced and did their solo's, including a triangle solo! Finishing the acoustic set with an electric guitar and playing Everlong, which ended back on the proper stage going crazy... A few more big songs, including a very drawn out Monkey Wrench, and soon after it was just on 2 hours and over...

Crowd went wild! Eventually Dave came on the big screen with a copy of the set list with the last couple songs blacked out, crowd going mad, they played this for ages, Taylor and Dave silently negotiating whether they should return to the stage and how much more they should play... And back they came with Big Me, Best of You and All My Life... Out with a bang, and leaving everybody wired!!!

Amazing show, completely different experience to any other show that I have ever seen them do!

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