One year ago this week Taylor Hawkins left us.
Back when Foo Fighters played San Jose. Taylor was alive and Foo were on fire!
On March 25th 2022 the world got the shocking news of Taylor Hawkins' death. This week marks one year since the world lost the much loved Foo Fighters drummer. He was on tour with the Foo Fighters in South America when he died at age 50. The Music Soup loves this band so we will be paying tribute to Hawkins by publishing the articles and photo galleries from past shows we covered. This one was from September 12, 2018, when Foo Fighters played the SAP Center in San Jose.
This show...Epic! Foo Fighters were insanely amazing. One of those shows that when I think back on the gig...it brings joy to my heart! Its a couple weeks ago now, but I'm still riding on it! And when that happens...you know it was a great show!
The Joy Formidable opened the show with their 40 minute set. Decibels above what it should've been. (shame on whoever was in charge of the sound for them). I'm sure that this trio from Wales is great, but when they were so incredibly loud it was difficult to listen to with any comprehension or enjoyment. After the few songs in the pit, I went up to where a friend was sitting, a way from the stage and he even mentioned the over the top volume that hurt our ears!
Then at 9 Foo Fighters entered, and the crowd went nuts. Right away, Dave Grohl announced a few times, that this would be a long show cause he wants to do 175 songs! They opened the show with, All My Life (with Cat Scratch Fever snippet in the middle), then fiercely ploughed into 20 more phenomenal songs performed in the true Foo way....showmanship, connection and energy is what they gave the audience throughout the performance! Grohl moves like a caged lion, back and forth, commanding the stage. Periodically taking trips between songs to the back of the stage where he would dunk his head in a bucket of water. Dave is quite an amazing showman, with stunning good looks, super charismatic charm, and an over the top talent. But for me, perhaps the guy who may have stolen the show was Taylor Hawkins...OMG! The 6th song was a drum solo...whilst Hawkins played, his platform was raised what looked to be thirty feet in the air for the entire song. He is indeed more than a cut above, in the drummer world. Probably one of the best five living drummers today. Hawkins was a super star on that night!
The Foo played great songs like, The Pretender, Monkey Wrench, Breakout, Dirty Water, Best of you and a plethora of killer covers like Imagine, Van Halens' Eruption, Queens' Another One Bites the Dust, Jump, and my fave, The Ramones' Blitzkrieg Bop, and with Grohl on the drums and Hawkins front center lead vocals Queens' Under Pressure. And Taylor Hawkins also sang Sunday Rain.
The show was about two and a half hours with plenty of great Grohl interaction. All in all...I cannot wait till they return! Definitely one of the best concerts this year and maybe one of my top ten or twenty in my life! Certainly for me, one of the top gigs of this century so far.
Although Bruce Springsteen and Dave Grohl are only 20 years apart, Dave being 49 and Bruce 69, the two of them have a beautiful recipe of providing an infectious positive energy on stage, connecting with their audience and really caring that everyone that attends has a good time and leaves with a smile. Foo Fighters bring plenty of entertainment for the price of admission. I think Grohl is the next generation of 'Springsteen esq' connectivity, showmanship and the brilliant music they both bring seems to merely be the icing on the cake! .....Bravo to The Foo!
Affiliate Link: Dave Grohl, The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music - https://amzn.to/41SxKUx