Dave Grohl and Foo Fighters had big plans this year to mark the 25th anniversary of the band.
“That’s right, 2020 was going to be the best year ever!” he said from the stage of the Roxy Theater in West Hollywood on Saturday evening.
“And here we are.”
Here, playing a live-streamed concert for fans around the world, a show both thrilling and strange, but for fans and Foo Fighters alike, a welcome relief from the drudgery of this unexpected year.
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The rock band Foo Fighters livestreamed a concert from the Roxy Theater in West Hollywood on Saturday, Nov. 14, 2020, the band’s biggest performance since the coronavirus pandemic scuttled its 25th anniversary celebration plans for this year. Seen here is singer-guitarist Dave Grohl. (Photo by Andrew Stuart)
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The rock band Foo Fighters livestreamed a concert from the Roxy Theater in West Hollywood on Saturday, Nov. 14, 2020, the band’s biggest performance since the coronavirus pandemic scuttled its 25th anniversary celebration plans for this year. Seen here is singer-guitarist Dave Grohl. (Photo by Andrew Stuart)
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The rock band Foo Fighters livestreamed a concert from the Roxy Theater in West Hollywood on Saturday, Nov. 14, 2020, the band’s biggest performance since the coronavirus pandemic scuttled its 25th anniversary celebration plans for this year. Seen here is drummer Taylor Hawkins, with singer-guitarist Dave Grohl looking on at left. (Photo by Andrew Stuart)
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The rock band Foo Fighters livestreamed a concert from the Roxy Theater in West Hollywood on Saturday, Nov. 14, 2020, the band’s biggest performance since the coronavirus pandemic scuttled its 25th anniversary celebration plans for this year. (Photo by Andrew Stuart)
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The rock band Foo Fighters livestreamed a concert from the Roxy Theater in West Hollywood on Saturday, Nov. 14, 2020, the band’s biggest performance since the coronavirus pandemic scuttled its 25th anniversary celebration plans for this year. Seen here is singer-guitarist Dave Grohl. (Photo by Andrew Stuart)
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The rock band Foo Fighters livestreamed a concert from the Roxy Theater in West Hollywood on Saturday, Nov. 14, 2020, the band’s biggest performance since the coronavirus pandemic scuttled its 25th anniversary celebration plans for this year. Seen here is rhythm guitarist Pat Smear. (Photo by Andrew Stuart)
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The rock band Foo Fighters livestreamed a concert from the Roxy Theater in West Hollywood on Saturday, Nov. 14, 2020, the band’s biggest performance since the coronavirus pandemic scuttled its 25th anniversary celebration plans for this year. (Photo by Andrew Stuart)
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The rock band Foo Fighters livestreamed a concert from the Roxy Theater in West Hollywood on Saturday, Nov. 14, 2020, the band’s biggest performance since the coronavirus pandemic scuttled its 25th anniversary celebration plans for this year. Seen here, foreground, is rhythm guitarist Pat Smear, with Violet Grohl, daughter of head Foo Fighter Dave Grohl, singing backing vocals at right. (Photo by Andrew Stuart)
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The rock band Foo Fighters livestreamed a concert from the Roxy Theater in West Hollywood on Saturday, Nov. 14, 2020, the band’s biggest performance since the coronavirus pandemic scuttled its 25th anniversary celebration plans for this year. Seen here is drummer Taylor Hawkins. (Photo by Andrew Stuart)
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The rock band Foo Fighters livestreamed a concert from the Roxy Theater in West Hollywood on Saturday, Nov. 14, 2020, the band’s biggest performance since the coronavirus pandemic scuttled its 25th anniversary celebration plans for this year. Seen here is singer-guitarist Dave Grohl. (Photo by Andrew Stuart)
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The rock band Foo Fighters livestreamed a concert from the Roxy Theater in West Hollywood on Saturday, Nov. 14, 2020, the band’s biggest performance since the coronavirus pandemic scuttled its 25th anniversary celebration plans for this year. Seen here is drummer Taylor Hawkins. (Photo by Andrew Stuart)
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The rock band Foo Fighters livestreamed a concert from the Roxy Theater in West Hollywood on Saturday, Nov. 14, 2020, the band’s biggest performance since the coronavirus pandemic scuttled its 25th anniversary celebration plans for this year. Seen here is drummer Taylor Hawkins, center, with singer-guitarist Dave Grohl, left. (Photo by Andrew Stuart)
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The rock band Foo Fighters livestreamed a concert from the Roxy Theater in West Hollywood on Saturday, Nov. 14, 2020, the band’s biggest performance since the coronavirus pandemic scuttled its 25th anniversary celebration plans for this year. (Photo by Andrew Stuart)
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The rock band Foo Fighters livestreamed a concert from the Roxy Theater in West Hollywood on Saturday, Nov. 14, 2020, the band’s biggest performance since the coronavirus pandemic scuttled its 25th anniversary celebration plans for this year. Seen here is rhythm guitarist Pat Smear. (Photo by Andrew Stuart)
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The rock band Foo Fighters livestreamed a concert from the Roxy Theater in West Hollywood on Saturday, Nov. 14, 2020, the band’s biggest performance since the coronavirus pandemic scuttled its 25th anniversary celebration plans for this year. Seen here, center, is singer-guitarist Dave Grohl. (Photo by Andrew Stuart)
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The rock band Foo Fighters livestreamed a concert from the Roxy Theater in West Hollywood on Saturday, Nov. 14, 2020, the band’s biggest performance since the coronavirus pandemic scuttled its 25th anniversary celebration plans for this year. (Photo by Andrew Stuart)
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The rock band Foo Fighters livestreamed a concert from the Roxy Theater in West Hollywood on Saturday, Nov. 14, 2020, the band’s biggest performance since the coronavirus pandemic scuttled its 25th anniversary celebration plans for this year. Seen here is a shot from backstage. (Photo by Andrew Stuart)
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The rock band Foo Fighters livestreamed a concert from the Roxy Theater in West Hollywood on Saturday, Nov. 14, 2020, the band’s biggest performance since the coronavirus pandemic scuttled its 25th anniversary celebration plans for this year. The livestream was sponsored by Coors Light. (Photo by Andrew Stuart)
Part of the proceeds also are headed to Sweet Relief Musicians Fund to help those in the music industry struggling financially as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
In many ways, it was a typical Foo Fighters show. The band rocked hard on the cream of its catalog, opening the set with “All My Life,” ending it with it “Everlong.” Grohl rambled on about various tangents as he might have at any arena or stadium show.
In other ways, though, it was unique. Not so much for the intimate Roxy stage that held the six guys in the band and four backing vocalists, including Grohl’s 14-year-old daughter Violet. After all, they’d played there in 1995 when the Foo Fighters were just starting out, and more times over the years, including a KROQ-FM/106.7 show exactly six years earlier than Saturday’s show.
The absence of any fans made for a strange moments between songs. After the second song, “The Pretender,” the audio went so quiet and still I thought for a minute I’d lost the feed. Nope! There’s just no sound when the band stops playing and the room is devoid of fans.
“This is usually the moment in the song where everybody sings along,” Grohl said near the finish of “My Hero.” “But that requires people actually to be here.
“So if you hate your (bleepin’) neighbor, and you hate your (bleepin’) roommate, I want everybody to sing here by yourself to your iPad,” he continued. “If that feels awkward, imagine what it’s like being on this stage pretending there are people here.”
It was also shorter than the typical Foo Fighters show, a tight 12-song set over 90 minutes instead of something on the other side of the two-hour mark as you’d typically expect.
“Listen, if I was in your living room right now we’d be up until 5 o’clock in the morning,” Grohl before a terrific take on “Best Of You,” the penultimate song of the night. “I’m not sure that’s how this works.”
Other highlights included the back-to-back performance of “Times Like These” and “Shame, Shame,” a new song off their forthcoming album “Medicine At Night,” the same tunes they played a week earlier as guests on “Saturday Night Live.”
At one point Grohl acknowledged that he and the band hadn’t been interested in doing live-streamed or drive-in shows like some bands have since the pandemic forced the closure of music venues everywhere.
“And then I realized, you know what, the most important thing is to bring a little joy and happiness,” he said.
Later, after wondering out loud, “What is a virtual encore?” he urged everyone watching at home to stay safe, stay healthy, and look to the future when live shows can resume.
“I think if everyone looks out for the other guy, and everyone gets it together, a little care, a little compassion, we can do this together soon.”
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