Live Review: Foo Fighters, Weezer, The Preatures

There aren't many bands that have the same pull as Foo Fighters, and that was definitely apparent with the hordes of people rolling into ANZ Stadium on Saturday night.

Sydney's The Preatures had the task of warming up the growing crowd. Considering the venue capacity is around 83,000 (most of which were full by the end of the night), there was a surprisingly large crowd for the band's 5.40pm set. They opened with Girlhood and Cruel, before explaining the story behind their track, Yanada. Frontwoman Isabella Manfredi seemed more than comfortable commanding such a large venue, joking about how badly she wanted to run down the raised walkway that divided the GA section. She refrained however, despite the crowd egging her on, saying that she couldn't as it's Dave Grohl's sacred place. They moved through Better Than It Ever Could Be and Is This How You Feel? and all too suddenly, their set was over, finishing to a cheer from the ever-growing crowd. The band exited the stage area but took their time leaving, with fans stopping them for photos on the way out, to which they happily obliged.

The story is that Weezer were just about to sign off on their own headlining Aussie tour before they got the invite to join Foo Fighters for the trip. Weezer fans definitely showed up for them, with the crowd sharing a massive cheer as they walked out. There was no hesitation, the band ripping through their set and the crowd happily singing along, El Scorcho, My Name Is Jonas and Undone - The Sweater Song among the largest. There's a cover of Pixie's Where Is My Mind? before they delved into some newer tracks. Of course, the set wouldn't have been complete without Buddy Holly, Say It Ain't So and Island In The Sun, with frontman Rivers Cuomo then informing the crowd that, "We're coming back next summer," which elicited a very positive response from the crowd.

By the time Weezer's set wrapped up, the crowd is just about at capacity, ready and awaiting Foo Fighters to come out on stage. The man synonymous with the Foo Fighters name, Dave Grohl himself, came running out on stage to a deafening scream from the audience. Impressively, he's wearing an Oxford Art Factory shirt - a remnant of the secret show he and drummer Taylor Hawkins played with their other band, Chevy Metal, last year. They opened with Run, All My Life, Learn To Fly, The Pretender, The Sky Is A Neighborhood and Rope, then surprisingly, an hour had already passed before the group had even said hello. Those who have seen Foo Fighters over the past few years would know that not much changes with their stage set-up between tours — not this time though! While all attention was on Grohl during his opening speech, Hawkins' drumkit and platform were rising into the air on hydraulics in preparation for a huge drum solo.

The band joined him again after, with Grohl encouraging the crowd again, asking, "Who's seen the Foo Fighters play before?" When the majority of the crowd raise their hand, he replies, "It's too easy," before adding, "We just play until they fucking kick us off."

They rolled through the very crowd-pleasing My Hero, These Days, Walk and Let It Die, before another stage change happened in the form of a large LED panel moving down over the top of the band and stopping just short of the group's heads.

Soon came each band member's introduction, with each playing part of a song to display their ability. Guitarist Chris Shiflett treated the crowd to a cover of Alice Cooper's Under My Wheels, bassist Nate Mendel showed off to Queen's Another One Bites The Dust, new member Rami Jaffee caused the crowd to lose their minds over the tiniest bit of Van Halen's Jump, and guitarist Pat Smear led the way on Ramone's Blitzkrieg Bop, before Hawkins and Grohl swapped places behind the microphone and drums.

They joked between themselves, Hawkins asking Grohl what the first drum fill of Grohl's he would be familiar with is. Grohl ran along with the joke, playing a literal four seconds of his opening drum roll of Smells Like Teen Spirit before telling the crowd that's all they're getting, Hawkins laughing and telling the crowd, "And that's why we're here tonight!" Joking aside, they moved onto somewhat of a Foo Fighters staple now, a cover of Queen and David Bowie's, Under Pressure.

They switched back, with Grohl then going off setlist to play Big Me, telling the crowd, "I'm going to sing this motherfucker to you tonight." They played through a few more before they closed out the main set with This Is A Call and Best Of You, along with Grohl's sentiments about how much Australia means to the band.

As they were taking a breather backstage, the stadium came alight with phone torches flashing all around, encouraging the band to come back. Suddenly, Grohl's face appeared on the big screens, with night-cam style footage of himself and Hawkins backstage. They played with the crowd, teasing about how many more songs they would play.

They finished their shtick and Grohl ran back out to the end of the platform, to play the acoustic Ballad Of The Beaconsfield Miners, before swapping guitars to kick off Times Like These. It was here that the rest of the band appeared back on stage, with Grohl running back up the walkway to join them. There was a very touching tribute to Malcolm Young and his family with a cover of AC/DC's Let There Be Rock.

Of course, the evening wouldn't be complete without the band's siren song, Everlong. There couldn't have been a more fitting end to the three-hour-long show, both the band and crowd clearly chuffed with how the evening had gone. If you get the chance to see the Foo Fighters make sure you do, they have so much drawing power for a damn good reason.