Foo Fighters shows are marathons, and rightfully so. Last night’s concert at Citi Field in New York — the opening date of their “Everything or Nothing At All Tour” (get tickets here) — was intended to be the typical three hour rock ‘n roll extraordinaire, but the weather had some other plans. Let’s start with the abrupt climax: around 75 minutes into the show, shortly following personnel introductions, lightning started popping up in the periphery of the stadium, and a storm looked imminent.
As they began “Learn to Fly,” Grohl brought his band to a hush and relayed the situation. A big storm was about to pass through, and according to Grohl, it would take a while — but the Foo Fighters would not leave the stage until it was unsafe for us to be there. At that point, the wind had started to pick up and lightning popped more frequently, but the rain was nowhere to be found. Still, the band played “Learn to Fly” with a slight bit of apprehension. They knew the end was near, they just didn’t know when the plug was going to be pulled.
After “Learn to Fly,” the stakes were definitely raised — Foos were going to have to leave the stage, and they didn’t know if they were going to be able to come back. So, Grohl relayed the crowd, “Let’s do this before shit gets weird,” basically meaning before we all have to evacuate. They got through maybe 30 seconds of “Everlong,” a song they almost always save for the conclusion of their encore, until they abruptly stopped and Grohl told us all to seek shelter.
“You guys go get safe, everybody go get safe” Grohl shouted before the rain arrived like an armada. “If we can come back, we will. But listen, you know we fucking love you, you know we’ll be back for you guys, right? Go get safe, we’ll see you.” We all took shelter within the stadium, but once the storm started, the prospect of Foo Fighters returning to make their 11:00 p.m. curfew looked more unrealistic by the minute. At 10:33 p.m., the show officially concluded.
Enjoying the Foo Fighters show at Citi Field.
(They pulled the band off stage in the middle of Everlong) pic.twitter.com/GC6tuUBh3F
— Kyle Brandt (@KyleBrandt) July 18, 2024
For the first 80 minutes, though, it was smiles abound. It may have been an abridged version of Foo Fighters’ tour opener, but it was still a Foo Fighters show — meaning it was jam-packed with electrifying rock, tense bridge breakdowns, and Dave Grohl being the charming entertainer we know and love.
Grohl, clearly coursing with adrenaline when he performs, channels all that energy into his chewing gum, literally chomping at the mic in between banter. “Do you love rock ‘n roll?,” Grohl asked the crowd during Medicine at Midnight track “No Son of Mine.” “Well I do too!,” he said cutely, before briefly covering Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid” and Metallica’s “Enter Sandman.” Over time, Grohl is genuinely getting sillier on stage. Three hours work for Foo Fighters, because it means Dave Grohl can more or less just riff like a comedian whenever he wants. Nothing about his demeanor suggests he’s ‘Mr. Serious Rockstar,’ and yet, he’s clearly shredding with every ounce of passion he has.