More than a year ago, amid our uniform isolation, Dave Grohl penned an essay for The Atlantic, titled “The Day The Live Concert Returns.”
“We’re human,” the rock stalwart wrote. “We need moments that reassure us that we are not alone. That we are understood ... together, we are instruments in a sonic cathedral, one that we build together night after night. And one that we will surely build again.”
When Grohl typed this letter, to his fans and himself, the idea of live music with any sizable audience was utter fantasy. Standing shoulder-to-shoulder, singing beside thousands of unmasked people? Yeah, right. Rock shows surely would be the last imperative social experience to revive. It had to be this way.
But mercifully, enough has gone right in the last six months to soon reignite the large-scale concerts throughout the country, ahead of many experts’ predictions. Dozens of national tours are booked for late summer and fall. Music lovers will finally gather again.
Fans in the audience react as The Foo Fighters reopen Madison Square Garden. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for FF)Getty Images for FF
And who better to light the fuse than Grohl and his Foo Fighters, a band that has carved its Rock and Roll Hall of Fame reputation through the propulsion of its bombastic, can’t-miss concerts.
With less than two weeks notice, the group announced it would reopen Madison Square Garden Sunday night, marking the world’s most famous arena’s first concert in more than 15 months — and the first major rock show of circumstance since the pandemic began.
Fans walk past a digital display that reads, "rock and roll returns to the Garden tonight." (Photo by Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images)Getty Images
“Are you f***ing ready?!” read signs within the Garden’s concourse, as fans snaked to their seats for the sold-out event. All adults were required to show proof of vaccination upon entry, a smooth process but also a controversial precaution that spurred gaggles of anti-vaccine protests outside the arena Sunday evening.
But once the marathon performance began, all COVID apprehension appeared to melt away, eviscerated by a nearly three-hour, soul-affirming return that shook the Garden and reinstated live music as a necessary piece of our humanity. As I’ve written before, this is the stuff of life, of living. It’s what we did and what we do.
Warning, this video contains explicit language
“It’s times like these, we learn to live again,” Grohl sang, rather predictably, to open the massive show, with a poignant, slow-building rendition of “Times Like These” that saw only the singer and keyboardist Rami Jaffee spotlighted. Midway through, the full band kicked in, the crowd was urged to sing, and it was on — unfettered rock euphoria.
Every Foo Fighters show is like this to some extent, overflowing with enormous moments courtesy of one of the best-selling catalogs of the last 25 years. The encompassing “Learn to Fly,” the incendiary “The Pretender” and the throttling “All My Life” — Grohl and company don’t need a reason to thrill.
But this, you guys, was something else. The release of long-stifled energy, from the band to the crowd and vice-versa, the quaking mass of bodies on the arena floor — thousands of fans, no seats — was beyond electricity. It was immeasurable glee, an adrenaline knob snapped off the meter.
”We’ve been waiting for this, we’ve been waiting for rock and roll,” Grohl declared.
Dave Grohl performs onstage as The Foo Fighters reopen Madison Square Garden Sunday night. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for FF)Getty Images for FF
Foo Fighters, which famously formed in the mid-90s after the dissolution of Nirvana (where Grohl played drums) and Kurt Cobain’s death, is celebrating both its 25th anniversary and impending first-ballot induction into the rock Hall of Fame. The ceremony is Oct. 30.
Though Sunday’s performance also highlighted—
Oh yeah, Dave freaking Chappelle showed up!
The legendary comedian, who was in town for a Tribeca Festival premiere of a new documentary detailing his life — the first full-capacity event at Radio City Music Hall, Saturday night — was welcomed to the Garden stage Sunday to … sing?
Yes, sing. Chappelle apparently loves “Creep” by Radiohead, and sang a full, stranger-than-fiction rendition for the incredulous crowd, backed by the six-piece band, drawing out the “I don’t belong here” lyric for effect. He crooned his tune and walked off.
Is Chappelle a surprisingly gifted vocalist? Absolutely not. Is his viral appearance still trending on social media Monday morning? You bet.
Anyway, Foo Fighters released its 10th album earlier this year, “Medicine at Midnight,” which purposely injected dance-able funk into the band’s stadium-ready sound. The lead single “Shame, Shame” and title track were fine additions, but the best newbie was “No Son of Mine,” a raging Motörhead disciple that further galvanized the fist-pumping fans.
Across two hours and 45 minutes, the band kept it mostly light, covering “You Should Be Dancing” — a debut of its “Dee Gees” alter-ego, for a disco covers album soon to be released for Record Store Day — and Queen’s “Somebody to Love,” led by drummer Taylor Hawkins’ decent Freddie Mercury impression.
But the gravity of the moment returned later, as a sweat-soaked Grohl, 52, chugged on his powder-blue Gibson for the set’s titanic finisher, the 2005 single “Best of You.” The crowd, sensing the coming end, refused to cease wailing the chorus’ “whoa-oh”s, even after the band was finished. They just weren’t ready to leave.
Grohl, moved by the display, brought up a recurring dream he’d had the last year, that he would walk onto a stage, see the crowd, and he and they would look at each other. “And we would say ‘thank God we got here tonight,’” he said.
Dave Grohl performs onstage as The Foo Fighters reopen Madison Square Garden. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for FF)Getty Images for FF
Yes, Dave. Thank God.
Foo Fighters’ setlist
- “Times Like These”
- “The Pretender”
- “Learn to Fly”
- “No Son of Mine”
- “The Sky Is a Neighborhood”
- “Shame Shame”
- “Rope”
- “Run”
- “My Hero”
- “These Days”
- “Medicine at Midnight”
- “Walk”
- “Somebody to Love” (Queen cover) (Taylor Hawkins on lead vocals)
- “Monkey Wrench”
- “Arlandria”
- “Breakout”
- “Creep” (Radiohead cover, with Dave Chappelle)
- “All My Life”
- “Aurora”
- “This is a Call”
- “Best of You”
- Encore:
- “Making a Fire”
- “You Should Be Dancing” (Bee Gees cover)
- “Everlong”
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Bobby Olivier may be reached at bolivier@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BobbyOlivier and Facebook. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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