The Foo Fighters have landed on our shores. Yes, the 11-time Grammy-winning, 25+ million-record-selling stadium rock greats have kicked off the Australian leg of the Concrete And Gold World Tour and they have brought with them a very special guest, Weezer. Tonight’s show is at Coopers Stadium in Adelaide and SCENEzine was there rocking out and capturing all the action.

The sun is shining down on us in Coopers Stadium and the good time vibes of Weezer are belting out of the huge speakers filling the whole stadium with their quirky alt-rock sound. Weezer may not be the stadium show kind of band, but they are a huge act none the less and have a catalogue of hits almost as long as the main band. But for me, and I think many others who came early to see them play, it’s the Weezer of the nineties that we love the most and the band know this by delivering all their big hits songs like “El Scorcho” and “Undone The Sweater Song”, ones that had me going back to my high school days along with “Hash Pipe.” They dedicated “Where Is My Mind?” to premiere indie act The Pixies, by doing a fantastic cover of the song. At the set-lists end though is when the crowd became most vocal, taking over the chorus bit for “Island In The Sun” and as front man Rivers Cuomo and rhythm guitarist Brain Bell made their way down the huge runaway to farewell us, drummer Patrick Wilson picked up the guitar and wowed us with some metal riff carnage before leaving the stage. Weezer are such an enjoyable act, what a great way to kick off the night stadium spectacular.

The sun has not set in Adelaide yet but the Foo fighters have hit the stage early, as for they intend on playing for us tonight a 3 hour long set, one that kicks off straight away with “Run” from the latest album Concrete and Gold. They blitz straight into “All My Life” then follow that up with the much loved “Learn To Fly”. Finally, taking the time to address the full stadium sized crowd Dave asks us if we love rock n roll because that’s what they came here tonight to play. The whole band lead us into a Chuck Berry rock n roll sound, they then go on to play “The Pretender” and absolutely crush it, the whole stadium is on their feet.

Dave’s frontman showmanship and stage antics with his partner in crime Taylor Hawkins is nothing less of astounding, but as always it’s the music that speaks volumes about just how great they are. Their back catalogue is extensive and tonight they literally played a track off every single album they have ever released. Every hit is loved so much and when played live you end up seeing why, as you sing along to every line and you can’t help but just end up rocking out the whole time.

The band no doubt have performed flawlessly all night Chris, Pat, Nate, all masters of their instruments and adding to the sound is a keyboardist and three back up singers really giving something extra to every song. The sixties style of rock n roll riffs the band have been adding on to each song have really been creating something special, but it’s when Taylor does his drum solo things get raised so to speak, as quite literally the drum stage he is on gets raised up high and he gives us one hell of a solo.

Killer drum solos aren’t all we find out Taylor is capable of when he and Dave trade places for a stellar
cover of Queen’s “Under Pressure” which was not the only cover the band played. We had previously heard them cover Alice Cooper’s “Under My Wheels” and a mash up of “Another One Bites The Dust” with “Blitzkrieg Pop”. This all took place towards the end of set as the Foo Fighters finished things off with “Monkey Wrench”, then Best of You.

Encores are inevitable at any show especially stadiums, but what makes a Fooies encore so much more special is after all the cheering and screams die down, the camera cuts back stage, and there is Dave and Taylor having a beer and they encourage us to cheer for how many songs we think we should have in the encore. We settle on 5 and out comes Dave alone to play some acoustic for us and we get a special treat as he delivers “The Ballad Of The Beaconsfield Miners”, he tells us that at the time  of the rescue they had put in a request for water and an iPod with some Foo Fighters on it. Dave informing us it was to drown out the sound of the drilling during the rescue, we all have a laugh. Dave starts “Times Like These” off alone but the whole band join in at the second verse, they play “This Is A Call” and leave us in the best way possible with “Everlong”, the whole stadium is shaking and the applause is almost as loud as the band themselves.

I see a lot of bands in stadiums and in clubs but the Foo Fighters don’t just come out and play a stadium show they make a freaking spectacle of it and knock it out of the park. Tonight at Coopers Stadium, I witnessed one of the best rock n roll shows I have ever seen. The Foo Fighters captured the hearts and minds of all in attendance and I encourage you all to go out there and feel the experience for yourself.

Review – Chad 

Photo Gallery – Christian Ross