[REVIEW] Foo Fighters Take On The Dragonfly

Foo Fighters (Picture from my crappy cell phone camera) - Alex Rauch

My ears are still ringing. When this happens you know you went to a great show the previous night, especially when the band that played was the Foo Fighters. I’ve seen the Foos a number of times, from big venues like Dodger Stadium to the tiniest of bars like Paladinos… twice. There was something special about last night though. I don’t know if it was the anticipation leading up to it, or their absence from the live music scene for a while but I couldn’t have bee more pumped to see them.

Lately, the Foo Fighters have really taken a liking to using social media to spread the word about their shows, album teases and more. Just last week, the band used Twitter to announce a secret show in Santa Barbara. Last Wednesday night, the band posted a link on Facebook sending people to their “Foo Fighters FM” page on their website with the clue… “Tune to 108.8″(Listen Here). The audio teased a secret small club show, but no word on when, where, or how to get in. This sent fans, like myself into a frenzy to find out how to see them. After last week’s surprise gig in Santa Barbara, there was speculation that the band could be playing elsewhere, like Seattle or Dallas for the Superbowl.

On Thursday, the band tweeted once, just this photo…

Then Friday came and the onslaught of clues started pouring in. When I got to work in the morning, I was greeted with this tweet “Getting kind of restless…… Feel something coming on…….” which made me think that today was the day. Then a few hours later another tweet came in saying “Ready?” with this picture.

Huh? Confusing but I’m still following. Next up was the kicker, “Soooo…….what are you guys doing tonight?” with this picture…

Soon after that I left work, waiting for the next tweet, constantly checking my phone in traffic (which I do not recommend!) and about an hour into my commute home an onslaught of texts came from the band. The first two of three were photos, one of Dave Grohl with a Motorhead CD and one of a US 101 sign.

After these two, I had a feeling that this next tweet would be it, and it was. It was about 5:00pm their tweet read “Tonight! 8pm. One $20 ticket per person, cash only, 21+” with a link back to the “Foo Fighters FM” page. This audio was no tease, it was vital information (Listen Here).

There was a show at the Dragonfly, a place I had been a couple times before to watch my brothers band play. I immediately b-lined for the venue which took me about 30 minutes, valeted my car and bought my wristband. I was in!!!

After an opening set from Bob Mould, who you might know as the singer of Hüsker Dü, and a quick stage turnover, the Foo Fighters were about to go on. It was about 10:20pm and the lights dimmed, the Foos walked on stage, and Dave Grohl greeted the crowd with “So, Do you want to hear the new album?” Without hesitation, the band busted into the energetic opening number “Bridge Burning” The song opens guitarist, Chris Shifletts’ pulsating riff then Grohl steamed the words “These Are My Famous Last Words”. Check out a youtube vid of the song here…

This album is by far the “hardest” sounding Foo Fighters in a very long time. Maybe since the Y2K scare (Yeah, that was a Y2K reference.) Every song has its moments and I can’t wait to get my hands on an actual copy to play over and over and over again. Listening to an album straight through for the first time when the band is actually playing it in from of you is an experience to say the least. Here are a couple more highlights from the new album portion of the show.

White Limo…

Dear Rosemary…

“Well that was the new album. And this isn’t” might have been the best segue in concert history as the band finished the new album and immediately went into the opening riff of “All My Life.” Grohl and co pounded though the next four songs without taking a breath. This was the tightest I have ever seen the Foo’s and I’ve seen them maybe 30 or more times.

Dave finally addressed the crowd right before the band went into “Up In Arms.” He basically went on a 5-minute rant about Twitter and how his 72 year old mom told him what it was. How he originally hated it but now that he has an album to promote, he loves it! He also mentioned that because of Twitter these pop-up club gigs were going to come more often… So if I were you, I’d follow @foofighters on twitter. NOW!

UPDATE: Dave’s Twitter rant…

Foo Fighters (Another picture from my crappy cell phone camera) - Alex Rauch

The “greatest hits” part of the set list focused mostly on the Foo Fighters first three albums, There Is Nothing Left To Lose pulling three songs, while we got five songs from both The Colour And The Shape and Their self titled debut album Foo Fighters. The setlist was filled out by only one song each of their last two albums, from Echoes, Silence, Patience, & Grace, and In Your Honor, and two songs from 2002′s One By One. I have never seen the Foo Fighters dig this deep into their back catalogue to play a show skipping over concert favorites and hits such as “Best Of You,” “My Hero” and “Breakout.” It was a nice change of pace and really kept the energy of the show up, much like that of the entire new album.

About 2 1/2 hours, after closing with “This Is A Call,” the Foo Fighters left the stage and the crowd was left in awe and wanting more.

This Is A Call…

If this album and live string of pop -up surprise shows proves anything, it’s that we’re all in for a wild time. The Foo Fighters will rock your F**kin ears off.

2/4/11 – Dragonfly Setlist
Bridge Burning
Rope
Dear Rosemary
White Limo
Arlandria
These Days
Back & Forth
Matter Of Time
Miss The Misery
I Shoulda Known
Walk
All My Life
Times Like These
Generator
Wattershed
Up In Arms
I’ll Stick Around
Big Me
Enough Space
Monkey Wrench
Hey, Johnny Park
Cold Day in the Sun
For All the Cows
Learn to Fly
Everlong
—————–
Aurora
The Pretender
This is a Call

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