Breathe out, so I can breathe you in. Hold you in.
One of my favorite lines from one of my favorite songs. Last night, I saw the writer of that line perform that song about 50 feet away from me.
That’s right, people … I saw the Foo Fighters last night! Woot-o-rama! As an extra added bonus, my boy JB and I managed to get some free orchestra tickets (thanks, Steph! This might get you back on my friends list … wait, you already are ... never mind!). As a triple added bonus, this was an acoustic show in the DAR Constitution Hall, which is one of the coolest places I’ve ever seen a concert. Suzanne Vega at the Kennedy Center is a close second as for nifty venues.
A’ight, if you’re not down with the Foo, might want to just skip the rest, cuz I’m breaking blog protocol and going with a full concert review here. Besides, what is blog protocol anyway? I have to make up a mood word, pick three topics and ramble nonsensically. Hmm ... I think nonsensically might be a made up word. Anyway, you non-fans ... aka Communists ... pick up your consolation prize at the door.
Ok, so I’ll let someone else discuss Frank Blank. He opened, he’s a legend, I never liked The Pixies all that much, such is life.
Dave came out and opened the show with "Razor", which is a very cool little fingerpicking diddy on the latest CD. My favorite parts of Foo shows are when Dave talks to the crowd. Early on, he noted that (1) he was amazed to be playing in this joint and (2) he’s a loudmouth.
The good thing is, he’s a funny loudmouth. As he’s talking to us in the opening parts of the show, his neighbor walks to her seat and says hello to him (yeah, it was that intimate of a show). His response, classic: “Oh, hi, Kelly. Thanks for saying hello. By the way, this is a rock concert, not a f****** baby shower!”
The early parts of the show were dominated by songs from the somewhat new acoustic CD. My personal favorite was “On The Mend”, which is one of my favorites tunes from the CD - it's kind of a mellow, flowery song, and almost seems out of place in a way - and Dave also noted that they would be playing some of the old tunes as well, punctuating the point with “My Hero”.
A quick aside … of all their songs, this one has always been one of my least favorite, and they play it at every single show. Ah well … I’ve always noted that with bands with huge song lists, it’s almost impossible to get the perfect show.
Dave took time between tunes to slowly introduce the band members. ‘Course, he was saving my boy Taylor for last. We’ll get to that in a bit. But first, he had to pause on Petra Hayden, who is this cute shy li’l thing that is immensely talented. ‘Course, being shy, Dave felt the need to exploit that to the delight of all … well, all except possibly Petra.
After a number of wolf whistles from some dudes in the crowd, he noted that she might get some tonight, which caused her to leave the stage in mock anguish. I have a feeling that being shy around Dave, especially when you’re on stage, might be akin to sticking a "Kick Me" sign on your back in a room full of teenage boys. They knocked out “Virginia Moon”, which is from the latest CD, which is a duet between Dave and Petra … good stuff … and she also sang lead on “Floaty”, which is off of the first album.
Yeah, it's time for my favorite part of the show ... the dialogue with Taylor. T cracks me up for some reason ... I think it might have something to do with how he seems to make a good lookin' woman in all of their videos. Or it could be that he apparently has the lack of ego to allow Dave to lay all of the drum tracks down on their albums and not get pissy about it. Either way, the dude's also pretty comical - he had one of the funnier lines of the night. I can't remember the exact conversation, but it had to do with pointing out how white the audience was. He has also written one of my favorite Foo tunes - "Cold Day In The Sun."
What's odd is that I've seen them play this song twice. The last time was the "rock" show of this tour, and T and Dave actually traded places for the tune - T came out to the mic, and Dave went behind the drums, which was pretty cool. What's odd is that, both times, T has dedicated the song to his wife ... which I find strange because of some of the lyrics:
And there's nothing that you couldn't say
Cause you said it all before
Think it's time you walk this lonely road all on your own
Looking for someone to blame
Blame me all along
You'll take the heat, but you would never take the fall
Dunno. I'm sure there's a good meaning behind it - maybe they made it through a rough patch and he wrote about it - but it seems kinda dark to me in a way. Probably why it's one of my favorites ... doesn't hurt that it's really easy to play, too.
Classic Dave once the song was done. Some dude and his date were returning to their seats near the front and he stopped in the middle of a story and asked them if they had a nice piss. Heh. Silly Dave!
They bounced through a couple other tunes - "See You" which was always a favorite of mine, "New Way Home" from the same CD, "Miracle" which he dedicated to his newborn daughter, and I'm sure I've missed a couple ... oh, "Skin and Bones", which was apparently written pretty much just before he went on a BBC radio spot. Good tune, and one I'll need to pick up somewhere.
They left the stage, and Dave came back solo to start off the encore. My personal favorite, "Times Like These", which I still say is one of the greatest recovering-from-a-breakup songs ever written. Fantastic stuff. He also told an interesting story about when he first joined Nirvana and he moved up to Olympia, Washington to live with Kurt and Krist Novoselic. They shared a nasty apartment, and he wrote a song about his roommates. I remember when I first heard it that the chords reminded me a great deal of the Nirvana song "Polly", so it was interesting to hear that it was born during the same era. "Friend of a Friend" is a strikingly deep song that seems very simple on the surface:
He thinks he drinks too much
Cause when he tells his two best friends
"I think I drink too much"
No one speaks
No one speaks
No one speaks
He also has the word "nevermind" in another line in the song, which I found interesting, since it became the title of Nirvana's biggest album (pipe down, you Bleach fans!).
Closing was, of course, what I led off with - "Everlong". There's really no other way to finish a spectacular show than with one of the finer songs ever written by Dave.
Someone asked if this was my favorite show ever - I've seen the dudes something like 7-8 times. I can't really answer that. It was strikingly different from everything I've ever see them do. I'm just hoping I get to see another one like it from them, because it was memorable. If you get a chance, and if you've read this far, you're clearly a fan, get on this tour. Big time.
One of my favorite lines from one of my favorite songs. Last night, I saw the writer of that line perform that song about 50 feet away from me.
That’s right, people … I saw the Foo Fighters last night! Woot-o-rama! As an extra added bonus, my boy JB and I managed to get some free orchestra tickets (thanks, Steph! This might get you back on my friends list … wait, you already are ... never mind!). As a triple added bonus, this was an acoustic show in the DAR Constitution Hall, which is one of the coolest places I’ve ever seen a concert. Suzanne Vega at the Kennedy Center is a close second as for nifty venues.
A’ight, if you’re not down with the Foo, might want to just skip the rest, cuz I’m breaking blog protocol and going with a full concert review here. Besides, what is blog protocol anyway? I have to make up a mood word, pick three topics and ramble nonsensically. Hmm ... I think nonsensically might be a made up word. Anyway, you non-fans ... aka Communists ... pick up your consolation prize at the door.
Ok, so I’ll let someone else discuss Frank Blank. He opened, he’s a legend, I never liked The Pixies all that much, such is life.
Dave came out and opened the show with "Razor", which is a very cool little fingerpicking diddy on the latest CD. My favorite parts of Foo shows are when Dave talks to the crowd. Early on, he noted that (1) he was amazed to be playing in this joint and (2) he’s a loudmouth.
The good thing is, he’s a funny loudmouth. As he’s talking to us in the opening parts of the show, his neighbor walks to her seat and says hello to him (yeah, it was that intimate of a show). His response, classic: “Oh, hi, Kelly. Thanks for saying hello. By the way, this is a rock concert, not a f****** baby shower!”
The early parts of the show were dominated by songs from the somewhat new acoustic CD. My personal favorite was “On The Mend”, which is one of my favorites tunes from the CD - it's kind of a mellow, flowery song, and almost seems out of place in a way - and Dave also noted that they would be playing some of the old tunes as well, punctuating the point with “My Hero”.
A quick aside … of all their songs, this one has always been one of my least favorite, and they play it at every single show. Ah well … I’ve always noted that with bands with huge song lists, it’s almost impossible to get the perfect show.
Dave took time between tunes to slowly introduce the band members. ‘Course, he was saving my boy Taylor for last. We’ll get to that in a bit. But first, he had to pause on Petra Hayden, who is this cute shy li’l thing that is immensely talented. ‘Course, being shy, Dave felt the need to exploit that to the delight of all … well, all except possibly Petra.
After a number of wolf whistles from some dudes in the crowd, he noted that she might get some tonight, which caused her to leave the stage in mock anguish. I have a feeling that being shy around Dave, especially when you’re on stage, might be akin to sticking a "Kick Me" sign on your back in a room full of teenage boys. They knocked out “Virginia Moon”, which is from the latest CD, which is a duet between Dave and Petra … good stuff … and she also sang lead on “Floaty”, which is off of the first album.
Yeah, it's time for my favorite part of the show ... the dialogue with Taylor. T cracks me up for some reason ... I think it might have something to do with how he seems to make a good lookin' woman in all of their videos. Or it could be that he apparently has the lack of ego to allow Dave to lay all of the drum tracks down on their albums and not get pissy about it. Either way, the dude's also pretty comical - he had one of the funnier lines of the night. I can't remember the exact conversation, but it had to do with pointing out how white the audience was. He has also written one of my favorite Foo tunes - "Cold Day In The Sun."
What's odd is that I've seen them play this song twice. The last time was the "rock" show of this tour, and T and Dave actually traded places for the tune - T came out to the mic, and Dave went behind the drums, which was pretty cool. What's odd is that, both times, T has dedicated the song to his wife ... which I find strange because of some of the lyrics:
And there's nothing that you couldn't say
Cause you said it all before
Think it's time you walk this lonely road all on your own
Looking for someone to blame
Blame me all along
You'll take the heat, but you would never take the fall
Dunno. I'm sure there's a good meaning behind it - maybe they made it through a rough patch and he wrote about it - but it seems kinda dark to me in a way. Probably why it's one of my favorites ... doesn't hurt that it's really easy to play, too.
Classic Dave once the song was done. Some dude and his date were returning to their seats near the front and he stopped in the middle of a story and asked them if they had a nice piss. Heh. Silly Dave!
They bounced through a couple other tunes - "See You" which was always a favorite of mine, "New Way Home" from the same CD, "Miracle" which he dedicated to his newborn daughter, and I'm sure I've missed a couple ... oh, "Skin and Bones", which was apparently written pretty much just before he went on a BBC radio spot. Good tune, and one I'll need to pick up somewhere.
They left the stage, and Dave came back solo to start off the encore. My personal favorite, "Times Like These", which I still say is one of the greatest recovering-from-a-breakup songs ever written. Fantastic stuff. He also told an interesting story about when he first joined Nirvana and he moved up to Olympia, Washington to live with Kurt and Krist Novoselic. They shared a nasty apartment, and he wrote a song about his roommates. I remember when I first heard it that the chords reminded me a great deal of the Nirvana song "Polly", so it was interesting to hear that it was born during the same era. "Friend of a Friend" is a strikingly deep song that seems very simple on the surface:
He thinks he drinks too much
Cause when he tells his two best friends
"I think I drink too much"
No one speaks
No one speaks
No one speaks
He also has the word "nevermind" in another line in the song, which I found interesting, since it became the title of Nirvana's biggest album (pipe down, you Bleach fans!).
Closing was, of course, what I led off with - "Everlong". There's really no other way to finish a spectacular show than with one of the finer songs ever written by Dave.
Someone asked if this was my favorite show ever - I've seen the dudes something like 7-8 times. I can't really answer that. It was strikingly different from everything I've ever see them do. I'm just hoping I get to see another one like it from them, because it was memorable. If you get a chance, and if you've read this far, you're clearly a fan, get on this tour. Big time.
posted by AxnJxn at 6:37 AM
1 Comments:
Absolutely love what you've written here.. Saw these guys for the first time on Sunday and was absolutely blown away!! Can't wait for them to tour again in Brisbane!
<3
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