Foo Fighters, The Chats, Body Type @ Coopers Stadium, Hindmarsh SA 2/12/2023
All aboard the Grohllercoaster! It definitely seemed like half of Adelaide had descended on Coopers Stadium for the mighty Foo Fighters. People were streaming in from everywhere for what would be an awesome night of ‘Rock & Grohl!’ Walking in to Coopers Stadium there was a real festive vibe and fans were well and truly up and about. With only a few weeks left in 2023 this rock ‘n roll spectacular will be right up there as one of the year’s best.
We were promised a three hour rock show and that’s exactly what we got and you would be hard pressed to find someone who would have walked away disappointed last night. There is no doubt the last couple of years have been difficult since the tragic and sad passing of drummer Taylor Hawkins and he would be there in spirit for sure.
Openers Body Type are a rock band from Sydney who would have been chomping at the bit to play at a show of this size. Great sound, great songs and there is a long bright future ahead for them. Be sure to buy a copy of their new album Expired Candy, absolutely love it. Likeable larrikins The Chats followed and they were intent on going hard and fast for forty minutes packing in plenty of viral hits which are steeped in Aussie idioms which have become part of the vernacular of the younger generation. The usual set staples Smoko, Pub Feed, Identity Theft and Struck By Lightning were all there but it is the likes of other tunes in the ilk of 6L GTR, Emperor Of The Beach and Better Than You that are proving popular.
It was all about the Foo Fighters and coming on at eight o’clock, which was a bit later than the scheduled kick off time it was on. Right from the first notes of All My Life the Coopers Stadium came to life dancing in unison. No Son Of Mine was killerwith Dave Grohl asking the question to the twenty thousand plus crowd – “do you mother fuckers love rock ‘n roll?” playing teasers of Black Sabbath’s Paranoid and AC/DC’s Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap. It was like a freight train gaining momentum powering their way through a set that was loaded with hits and plenty of new ones from But Here We Are plus a few more surprises.
Rescued, The Pretender and Walk were fantastic with Grohl reflecting on the eleventh time playing in Adelaide and it does seem as if Coopers Stadium has become their home ground. Talking about all the younger fans experiencing their first Foo Fighters show saying “it’s not Beethoven, you can learn this shit real quick”. It was a family affair for us and both my kids were buzzing having experienced this show, albeit a little tired today. Times Like These was full of pure emotion and Under You was another great moment. Going old school on Stacked Actors and Breakout with the crowd lighting up the stadium with their mobile phone lights.
The band intros offered a few surprises with a happy birthday to bass player Nate Mendell, guitarist Pat Smear playing a ripping teaser of The Ramones Blitzkrieg Bop, and drummer Josh Freese ploughing through Devo’s Whip It and the Nine Inch Nails jam of March Of The Pigs was awesome. There is no denying that Josh Freese who has drummed for so many bands and appeared on over four hundred albums brings a different dynamic to the band. There were so many great moments from the likes of My Hero, The Sky Is A Neighbourhood, Learn To Fly, Arlandria and These Days. It is incredible the depth of their back catalogue and how many great songs they have to draw from.
Dave spoke of the Foo Fighters playing twenty eight years together and how some songs start on an acoustic guitar and at the Perth show they tried something different “which felt nice” and that it jokingly taken Dave and Chris to “walk down the aisle” playing a spellbinding version of Statutes. Wow! Incredible! Ballad of the Beaconsfield Miners followed and is another song that is only played in Australia starting solo with the full band bringing it home. After Nothing At All Dave asked the crowd if they wanted one more as they weren’t even close to finishing. Dance number Monkey Wrench went off but the poignant moment of the set was Aurora which was dedicated to Taylor Hawkins. It was his favourite Foo Fighters song and the play it every night on tour. Dave took a moment to say that they could tell a different story every night talking about bike riding in Adelaide with Taylor and that he always liked to go to fast and forgetting with drive/ride on the different side of the road having a head on collision with another bike rider. He also said that they talked and thought about him every day.
It was back to “where it all started” with This Is A Call” and that they could not go a show without at least one AC/DC bringing out their drum tech Fiona to sing a rousing rendition of Big Balls then finishing on the epic Best Of You. Hells bells, how good was the encore! Dave came out with a double necked guitar to play the ten minute epic The Teacher. Dave didn’t want to say goodbye as he thought that was “finite” and their way of saying goodbye without saying goodbye was with one of the best songs ever written in Everlong. Fantastic show and I have got my fill seeing one of the best cementing their position right at the very top.
Live Review By Rob Lyon