Fighting Foo at the Wang 

25 Aug 2006

My friend came through huge a few days back, picking up some cheap tickets through work to go see the Foo Fighters live at The Wang Center. When he said he got tickets, I was figuring on balcony seats. Nope, 15 rows back from the stage. Hell yeah.

I wasn't exactly sure what to expect from an acoustic Foo Fighters show. I'm a decent sized Foo fan. Don't have all the albums, but I've got a bunch, and I think "Everlong" is one of the greatest air drumming songs of all time. In fact, if they ever put out a Drum Hero game (like Guitar Hero), that would have to be one of the songs. Yet still, it's acoustic. It could be really, really boring.

We get there, and we're there in time to catch the second half of Frank Black's opening set. I'm not yet a huge Frank Black fan. I like him, I understand his place in music history, but I can't claim that I've heard a ton of his solo stuff. 'Twas good though. He rocked out, just him and his acoustic guitar, and one a capella song. A good opener, albeit short.

Then, after an interminable 30 minute break, Dave Grohl walks out and starts playing a song, just him and his guitar, off of the most recent album (which I don't have). The whole place is quiet, listening to him go, and then mid-way through the song, the rest of the (giant) band comes out and ***BOOM*** this huge orchestral sound comes out. Violin, organ, xylophone, guitar, bass, triangle ...

It was like I'd gone to see the Foo Fighters and out walked The Decemberists.

Furthering my Foo/Decemberists confusion, I noticed Petra Haden (from that dog.! and The Rentals! and the aforementioned Decemberists!) who'd recently been playing with The Decemberists (and singing vocals, I believe, on their awesome new album which I'll write about soon). And there's Pat Smear! Who left the Foo awhile back, but apparently is back for this acoustic tour.

Very cool.

So they start rolling through songs, with Dave interspersing some pretty funny banter, keeping everyone entertained. It's such a laid back atmosphere. The band sitting down, the crowd (Foo Fighter fans mixed with the typical upper crust Wang Center clientele) quietly rocking out in their seats.

They finish up the set with "Times Like These" which rocked hard, but was decidedly acoustic and decidedly different than normal, when you add in all of the unexpected sounds of the extra percussionist and Petra Haden.

After a typical few minutes of crazy crowd applause, Dave rolls back out for 2 solo songs in the encore. He then says he's got time for one more, and starts playing "Everlong", and the crowd goes nuts. Again, about halfway through the song, he stops. The band walks out and they just go flat out through a couple more verses of the most awe-inspiring version of "Everlong" you'll ever hear. Very cool to hear and see (and I kept thinking I'd buy a live CD/DVD if they put one out).

I've been looking around for some pictures, but Flickr doesn't have anything from the Boston show yet, so I bring you pictures courtesy of The Boston Phoenix.

Petra Haden!

The show!