The Foo Fighters opened their Friday night concert at Citi Field in Queens with the penultimate song from their latest album, the 10-minute-plus “The Teacher.” The song is a bit of an anomaly for the group, with lead singer Dave Grohl favoring a double-neck Gibson guitar for the progression. While the song is dedicated to his late mother (a teacher) and former Foos drummer Taylor Hawkins, the late Taylor Hawkins, the title could easily apply to Grohl’s current approach to live performances: a rock ‘n’ roll guru sharing everything he knows about the craft in a single, three-hour lesson.
Grohl's between-song banter illustrated his self-appointed duty to put on a great show, especially in the wake of Wednesday's Citi Field show being canceled midway through due to dangerous weather. The legacy and responsibility were heavy on his mind, as the singer dedicated several moments to the Night One crowd who suffered through the abbreviated show, and repeatedly mentioned the band's commitment to rawand it brought back the Foos' thirty-year legacy. But it makes sense: With bands that rely on drums and distorted guitar increasingly falling out of fashion, it's a relief to have a frontman who keeps this classic sound alive.
From the start, Grohl prowled around the stage, looking more like a hyena than a human, his hair flying everywhere, his eyes glazed over as he repeatedly poured bottles of water over his head to cool himself. While some singers in their 50s might avoid screaming and let the audience do the work, Grohl pushed himself harder, uncanny in his ability to shake his microphone during songs like “Monkey Wrench” and “Best of You.”
Throughout the night, there were several other references to classic rock songs, whether it was Grohl incorporating the Beatles' “Blackbird” into an extended guitar break, or band introductions that included snippets of AC/DC's “Thunderstruck” and the Ramones' “Blitzkrieg Bop,” and even a tongue-in-cheek rendition of Led Zeppelin's controversial classic “Stairway To Heaven” that was played when a concertgoer needed some help.
And what tribute to rock’s past would be complete without a drummer as skilled as Keith Moon or John Bonham? After Hawkins’ death, Fosse hired Josh Freese, a master drummer and former member of dozens of bands, including Guns N’ Roses, A Perfect Circle, Devo, and the Vandals. Freese’s precision and command of the music allowed him to deliver a lot of thunderous rhythms, and he was able to play the music at any time as needed to lead the band by Grohl, repeating verses to let the audience sing along, dropping the tempo on breakdowns, and improvising to breathe new life into classic songs. A technical marvel, Freese is great at keeping the band moving—even when some songs might have been better performed with the primitive drum rhythms of Grohl’s original recordings, as on “My Hero” and “Everlong.”
Grohl, Freese and the rest of the band—guitarist Pat Smear, bassist Nate Mendel, guitarist Chris Shiflett and keyboardist Rami Jaffe—delivered a well-curated setlist filled with arena-ready songs (“Times Like These,” “Learn to Fly,” “All My Life”) and some deep cuts for fans (“Arlandria,” “Generator,” their first-ever single, “This Is a Call”). Smartly, the group limited the new material to heavy songs that allowed the energy to stay high—after all, a crowd wouldn’t be running to the bathroom if Grohl was shaking his head and screaming at the top of his lungs, even if they didn’t know the lyrics.
As fireworks exploded on the baseball field during the band's performance of the final encore song – a raucous version of “Everlong” – it became clear that the Foo Fighters were as much an American institution as baseball itself, flying the flag for rock 'n' roll.
