Foo Fighters Keeps The Rock And Roll Flag Flying At Citi Field

Popular music is at an interesting juncture in 2024 where naysayers proclaim that rock and roll is dead and that a younger generation has moved on to more tech-driven creative pursuits that hinge more on how well you handle AutoTune versus a Les Paul. And while the pop charts (which have always been driven by fickle, youth-driven trends) may bear this assertion out, understand that the Foo Fighters clearly haven’t gotten the memo. Bandleader Dave Grohl is an unabashed rocker prone to delivering hooky, guitar-driven manna and then hitting the road with his fellow riff-happy degenerates to spread the six-string gospel of hooks, harmonies and crazy soloing. So it was during a recent two-night stand at Citi Field as part of the Everything or Nothing At All Tour.

The band is currently touring behind But Here We Are, the group’s eleventh studio album. Most notably, it’s the first release longtime drummer Taylor Hawkins passed away on March 25, 2022. As someone whose untimely death inspired two separate tribute concerts in September 2022, one at London’s Wembley Stadium and the Kia Forum in Inglewood, CA, Hawkins’ presence loomed large throughout the show.

Not surprisingly, the rock and roll theme extended to the acts tapped to open the show—Mammoth WVH and The Pretenders. The former, led by the late Edward Van Halen’s son Wolfgang, delivered a crisp six-song set featuring material from the band’s pair of albums—the 2021 self-titled debut and its 2023 follow-up, Mammoth II.  Bangers like the thumping opener “Another Celebration at the End of the World” and the airier “Take a Bow” found Eddie’s kid and his crew slotting into the event’s vibe perfectly.

The Pretenders manned the middle slot and while Chrissie Hyde is somehow 72 (!), she was in fine fettle, prowling the stage sporting knee-high boots and wielding a baby blue Telecaster that matched her nail polish. Vocally, she hasn’t missed a beat while leading this current incarnation of The Pretenders rounded out by guitarist James Walbourne, drummer Kris Sonne and bassist Dave Page. The 14-song set list reflected Hynde’s current musical path, mixing in contemporary material from more recent albums including 2020’s Hate For Sale alongside classics off the band’s first four albums. The Pretenders opened with the cacophonous “Losing My Sense of Taste,” the first single off the band’s newest album, last year’s Relentless.

From here, the foursome jumped between newer gems like the fuzz guitar-soaked “Junkie Walk” (dedicated to Hawkins) and Thin Lizzy-flavored “Let the Sun Come In” to hits like the thumping “Middle of the Road” and “My City Was Gone” with its familiar, loping rhythm. Hynde, who played the London Hawkins tribute show, also dedicated the 1980 classic “Kid” to the late drummer along with her deceased bandmates James Honeyman-Scott (who was also the inspiration for the uber-jangly “Back On the Chain Gang,” which the band also played) and Pete Farndon, both of whom she lost to drug overdoses. Diehard Pretenders fans were treated to deeper numbers that got dusted off like the ethereal reggae gem “Private Life” and spikey “Tattooed Love Boys” punctuated by its frenetic time changes. It proved to be a great musical history lesson for a younger generation wondering who this woman was snarling her way through her set list while exuding pure rock and roll swagger. 

By the time Foo Fighters took the stage, the atmosphere was hot, sticky and humid with overcast clouds ominously rolling in. Grohl obliged to keep with that messy rock and roll aesthetic by racing out for and gutturally screaming “Are you ready?” before tearing into the blistering opener “All My Life.” From here, Grohl consistently reflected his being the quintessential music-fan-turned-rock-star, occasionally reaching for red Solo cups and dousing his shoulder-length locks with water. When the band wasn’t dropping in snippets of Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid” and Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” into the rumbling “No Son of Mine,” the Foo Fighters were dipping deeply into their nearly three-decades old canon. Grohl readily acknowledged his band’s role as elder statesmen, pointing out the breadth of his group’s fan base that ranged from O.G.’s who eagerly embraced the Foo Fighters self-titled 1995 debut to the younger fans who he said “…weren’t even born when some of these songs came out.”

Grohl promised Foo would be jumping around the catalog and they didn’t disappoint. Newer earworms like “Rescued” off last year’s But Here We Are slotted in next to 2007’s anthemic “The Pretender” (Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace) and 1997’s “My Hero,” an instant crowd-singalong from 1997’s The Colour and the Shape) that kicked off with Grohl singing solo and trading verses with the crowd before the rest of the band joined him.

A big part of Foo’s on-stage effectiveness can be traced to the cohesive playing of the other members, which can be attributed to how long they’ve all played together. Bassist Nate Mendel and guitarist Pat Smear (The Germs) first came aboard after the self-titled debut went from being a one-man project to a full-blown group effort going forward. Guitarist Chris Shiflett was recruited in 1999 while former Wallflower Rami Jaffee formerly joined in 2017 after initially only being a touring member dating back to 2005. Longtime friend Josh Freese (Devo/Gun N’ Roses) was brought in last year to play drums given the Hawkins vacancy.

The kind of chemistry Foo Fighters have came across with intriguing arrangements of well-know fan favorites like the emotionally charged “Times Like These,” which Grohl kicked off playing solo guitar accompanied by Jaffee’s organ runs before the other Foos joined in and blew up the rest of the song. To say the mood was fast and loose for the Foo Fighters set was an understatement as is Grohl’s unabashed love of rock and roll. It was no more evident than when he got around to introducing each band member, allowing them to showcase cover song snippets. Shifflett shredded on Van Halen’s “Eruption” (which Grohl pointed out was “..a ballsy move given that Eddie Van Halen’s kid was backstage”) and AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck,” Mendel chugged through the Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage” (with Grohl singing some lines, a few of which he forgot) and Freese pounded out the intro to “March of the Pigs,” highlighting his time playing in Nine Inch Nails.

By this time, clouds were darker, rain drops started coming down and Grohl announced he’d been warned about thunderstorms rolling in. While Foo managed to squeeze in a solid reading of “Learn to Fly,” the intro to “Everlong” had to suffice before lightning and heavier rain found Citi Field staff evacuating the audience to the stadium concourse at 9:23 p.m. While Grohl promised to come back only if the safety of the crowd could be guaranteed, the concert’s conclusion was announced at 10: 33 p.m.  And while a full Foo Fighters concert wound up being derailed by Mother Nature, what Dave Grohl and his crew did give proved that rock and roll still has a heartbeat in 2024.