Foo Fighters
- Photo, Writing
- Foo Fighters, The Struts
- April 27, 2018
(Originally Published on South Florida Insider)
Dave Grohl brings the biggest rock band in the world back to South Florida – review of the Foo Fighters “Concrete and Gold” concert at the Coral Sky Amphitheater in West Palm Beach, FL
Photos and Story by: Gleb Barabanov
Ten years is a long time to wait for anything, much less a rock concert. But that’s exactly how long West Palm Foo Fighters fans had to wait for the band to make its way back to the balmy shores of South Florida, and the fans responded in kind. Selling out the enormous Coral Sky Amphitheater within a few days of the show even being announced, the crowd was ready to feel the magic again, and the venerable Dave Grohl was all too happy to oblige.
Opening up for the rock n roll royalty were England based glam-rock band “The Struts”. I had never heard of this group before seeing them play, and their performance blew me away! Reminding me of an eclectic mix of Queen, Rolling Stones, and the Arctic Monkeys, front-man Luke Spiller danced around the stage in his gold sequined suit like an absolute madman, firing the crowd up into a frenzy and getting them warmed up for the epic show that was about to take place just a short while later (Dave later mentioned to the audience that he thinks The Struts were the best opener they ever had.)
After The Struts finished their rousing set, the long wait began for the Foo Crew to set up the stage, and as the crowd got more and more restless, the chants of “Foo, Foo, Foo!” began to emanate from all corners of the venue. Finally, the lights went dark, and Dave ran out onto the stage like a wild beast, erupting into the first song of their set, Run, from their brand new album “Concrete and Gold”. Blasting through hit after hit after hit, Dave and the band went through songs off almost every single album (save for 2014’s Sonic Highways), and dusting off songs they haven’t played in years.
The concert had a very informal vibe to it, with Dave talking to the audience and the rest of the band via microphone, as well as the “jam band” style improvisation of their songs that often resulted in songs going on for longer than ten minutes with the band just jamming out and having a blast on stage. Covers were also very prevalent in the set-list, with everything from John Lennon’s “Imagine” to Alice Cooper’s “Under My Wheels” being represented, as well as a very special version of Queen’s “Under Pressure” featuring Dave getting behind the drum kit and letting Foo drummer Taylor Hawkins and The Struts singer Luke Spiller take over the vocalist duties. Dave also played Times Like These and dedicated the song to Jason Bonham, son of the legendary Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham, who was watching the show from the side stage (Dave even poked fun at the fact that it was his first time seeing the Foo Fighters after knowing Dave for over 30 years.)
After an insane, marathon 2 and half hour concert, the band departed for a small break while the crowd went insane asking for more. They reappeared for a stunning 3 song encore, with Dave bidding the crowd “Until next time”, as a sly homage to the amount of time it had been since the last time the group played in Florida. Promising to come back sooner than later, the group played their last song of the night, their biggest hit Everlong, before departing the stage to a crowd that was clamoring for more.
