We Fought The Foo

I dare say that very few cool, street-smart 19-year-olds would choose their 58-year-old dads to take to a stadium rock concert. If that is the case, then lucky man am I.

London Stadium, England

The summer solstice occurred last Thursday. Throughout May and the first half of June, the weather here has been dismal and relatively cool for the time of year. (That, however, has not stopped all those tedious ‘climate change’ freaks claiming that May experienced record high temperatures.) All changed, as if scripted, on the longest day of the year.

At 5:18 p.m., my elder son and I were leaning against a lamppost, waiting for an Uber taxi, somewhere beyond Stratford High Street in East London. A moment before we climbed into the vehicle, we learned that Harry Kane had just opened the scoring in England’s Euro 24 football match against Denmark, which put us in an even more positive frame of mind as we set off for the concert.

The London Stadium has been the home of West Ham United Football Club since 2016. Before that, it served as the athletics venue for the 2012 Summer Olympics. Today, as well as hosting dozens of top-flight football matches per year, the stadium is one of the UK’s top venues for music concerts by acts that can make enough noise to fill the ears of 80,000 attendees.

Enter, with sound volume set north of 11, the Foo Fighters (Figure 258.1). Formed in Seattle, Washington, USA in 1994, by ex-Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl (1969-), the band has since released eleven studio albums, won 15 Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2021. To the collective delight of the packed crowd, Grohl, with the voice of a white Mr T, announced:

‘All you mother------s out there at the back ... and all you mother------s down here at the front ... for the next three hours ... yer asses are ours!’

It would seem that, in Seattle, ‘mother’ is only half a word, but Grohl was as good as his.

Figure 258.1: 8:20 p.m. The Foo Fighters ‘rocking the (East End) kasbah’. This was our view from Block 232 in the East Stand.

Copyright © 2024 Paul Spradbery

Three solid hours of rock-and-Grohl was never likely to underwhelm. Recent tracks, such as The Teacher (2023) — a new favourite of my son’s (Figure 258.2) — blended seamlessly with 90s classics such as Monkey Wrench, Everlong and My Hero as well as the timeless Times Like These (2003) whose every note and word was known by young and old alike.

Figure 258.2: 9.39 p.m. Filming the Foo Fighters

Copyright © 2024 Paul Spradbery

Amid the raucous celebration of a three-decade back catalogue, the evening was not without its poignant moments. After an evening of hyperactive percussion work, the band’s new drummer, the already-legendary Josh Freese (1972-), gave up his seat and kit to Shane Hawkins, the 17-year-old son of former drummer Taylor Hawkins who died — you’ve guessed, ‘suddenly and unexpectedly’ — a couple of years ago in a hotel room in Bogotá, Colombia.

The precise cause of Hawkins’s death remains unconfirmed. Although reputedly in good health prior to his fatal collapse, a preliminary report published by the Colombian Fiscalía General de la Nación stated that opioids, benzodiazepines, tricyclic antidepressants and a cannabis-derivative (THC) were identified from toxicological analysis. (That information, by itself, tells us very little, as blood concentrations are crucial and were not given.) It was noted, more tellingly, that Hawkins’s heart was found to be twice its normal size — an all-too-common sign of death by ‘COVID vaccine’ — but could have failed as a consequence of a combination of drugs in his system. It would, therefore, be negligent to rule out the most prevalent current cause of acute cardiovascular collapse.

In 2021, the band made unfortunate headlines by refusing to allow the ‘unvaccinated’ into their shows. Band members, staff and all concert-goers were required to provide proof of ‘vaccination’, which, according to band-leader Grohl, ‘keeps everybody safe’. As a long-term admirer of Grohl and his music, I have some sympathy for yet another propaganda victim wanting to do what he had been told was scientifically justifiable. Serious objective research would, however, have proved that such a policy was highly dangerous. Given the premature death of one of his closest friends, not to mention those of millions more since 2021, I do wonder whether, now, in quiet moments of solitude, Grohl struggles with his conscience. Would an ‘unvaccinated’ Taylor Hawkins still be alive today? We shall never know, but overwhelming statistical evidence should never be dismissed.

This wild-and-wonderful event ended with fireworks, both off stage and, metaphorically, on it, just before 10:30 p.m. (Figure 258.3). Grohl and co. had shown to 80,000 of their loud-and-loyal London fans that real music played by crack musicians still counts for a great deal (Figure 258.4).

Figure 258.3: 10:23 p.m. The Foo Fighters’ Fireworks Finale (Photo)

Copyright © 2024 Paul Spradbery

Figure 258.4: 10:24 p.m. The Foo Fighters’ Fireworks Finale (Video)

Copyright © 2024 James Spradbery

After the show ended, it became clear that dissipating such a vast crowd required far more off-ramps than were available in this part of East London. By the lights of all the new high-rise office blocks, we made our way, extremely slowly, with tens of thousands of others, still singing encores, in the vague direction of Stratford Tube Station. This major transport hub is, as the crow flies, less than one kilometre from the stadium, but it still took us more than a hour to pass it on our way back to Broadway.

Somewhere among that 80,000 crowd (Figure 258.5) were two blokes with a 39-year age gap bouncing around as if nothing outside the packed stadium mattered. Thanks, son.

Figure 258.5: With regard to rock concerts in my home country, I have been lucky. Eagles (London, 2008; Manchester, 2009 & 2014); Electric Light Orchestra (Birmingham, 1991; Chester, 1994); Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band (Sheffield, 1988); Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds (Manchester, 2006); The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert (London, 1992); Asia (New Brighton, 2007); and Queen’s last ever concert (Knebworth, 1986) were the most memorable. Foo Fighters (London, 2024) has just been added to the list.

Copyright © 2024 Foo Fighters

In memoriam: Oliver Taylor Hawkins (1972-2022).

Copyright © 2024 Paul Spradbery