Live Review: Foo Fighters @ HBF Park

Kicking off their first foray on Australian shores since 2018, Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Foo Fighters hit Perth with a bang, and on a school night at that, acquiring the aid of Aussie locals Teenage Joans and The Chats to get the party started on a Wednesday night. 

The stage is plunged into darkness, the tension like a thick overhanging cloud in the air as anticipation builds and builds and builds. Suddenly, everything happens all at once. Lights ignite, guitars riff and drums smash and crack at an extreme force. All My Life sets the scene, bouncing with immense energy from the beginning. Lead singer Dave Grohl casts his eye out to the crowd, assessing our heavy rock chops. “Do you want some rock n’ roll?” He asks cheekily. The band plunges into No Son Of Mine, teasing riffs of Paranoid by Black Sabbath and AC/DC’s Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap as they go. 

Rescued, The Pretender, and Walk are up next to a collage of fantastic colours and hard-hitting melodies that build and grow, then crash and build back up again in typical Foo Fighters fashion. “Tonight there’s not six people in the Foo Fighters, there’s about 20,000,“ announces an eager Grohl, met with ahhs and ooohs as your dad’s favourite tune, Times Like These, sequesters the singer with a single spotlight as belts out to the crowd with phenomenal force and control. Church is now in session, and he’s preaching like he’s delivering the last sermon on earth to thousands of eager ears accompanied by the church piano. The stage erupts as a sonic wave of thrashing guitars collides in a delicious rhapsody. “Sing it with me,” he beckons. Goosebumps.

“I’ve got one for the old-school Foo Fighters fans in here,” he says. Hard-hitting electric walls of sound are thrown at the crowd; God help the ears of those in the front row; I bet they’re loving every second of Stacked Actors. “I got another one for the old school fans,” - he’s playing favourites now. Breakout is up next, with a lyric change that gets a few chuckles. The crowd takes over on the final verse to carry the tune out on a high; we really are part of the band. The drums go immensely hard here as you can feel each thwack and bang reverberate through your chest and out through your ears. At Dave’s request, the lights dim, and he wants thousands of phones out to illuminate the night. “That’s fucking beautiful”, he declares, pleased with himself. It’s a rock show on the Milky Way.

The band is introduced, showing off their genuine instrumental talent, where Chris Shiflett’s lead guitar solo is a highlight. I didn’t know guitars could make that sound! “He’s totally overqualified for the job,” Grohl states, almost reading my mind. The band intros see the Foo Fighters play a medley of covers ranging from Blitzkrieg Bop and March Of The Pigs to Sabotage by Beastie Boys as it builds and swirls with the introduction of bassist Nate Mendel. The newest addition to the band, drummer Josh Freese, receives a standing ovation for allowing the band to be able to tour their tunes live. 

“Alright, let’s play some Foo Fighters shit.” The ever-so-familiar strums of My Hero signify we’re back to the basics and the crowd is fully onboard. It’s a brief moment of calm after having your brain absolutely pulverised and pummelled before slowly building and growing into a beautiful piano accompaniment, then exploding into that signature nostalgic rock you’d expect from the Foo Fighters as the crowd joins in for the final chorus. A genuine highlight of the early 2000s brought back to life. “That’s fucking beautiful, you guys are awesome.”

Lights fade as a silhouette of the rockstars settles into a deep purple for The Sky Is A Neighbourhood. The backdrop changes into a UFO with the iconic FF logo. There’s no rest for the wicked as they follow up that knockout punch with the effervescent Learn To Fly, turning the crowd into a moving and grooving sea of hands and screams. Each song feels fresh and euphoric, as if the band never gets tired of playing them as long as you’re loving it. It’s just six guys playing a couple of guitars, keys, drums, and microphones against the world and having the time of their lives whilst doing it. 

Things start to blend and meld together towards the backend, yet Dave is still in control, belting and screaming with glass-shattering precision, a true testament to his talent that his voice is still intact. It’s not until These Days, a torch song with a single orange light shining on legendary musician Dave Grohl, that things start to feel vibrant again, evidenced by the warm tones emblazoned on screen. The crowd is back in the palm of his hand again. It’s a real knee slapper this one as the band sores high together before the spotlight returns on Dave to sing a touching chorus, igniting once more into a glorious display of sound and light. 

“We’re gonna do stuff we’ve never done before because you’re our fucking guinea pigs tonight,” he teases - words they might have to eat as this sees some of the more bizarre events of the night. Starting with the 20-year-old Statues. “I don’t think we’ve ever done it live.” Perth’s special treat is an interesting moment - an almost Beatles-esque jazziness to it with John Lennon lyrics. The country-tinged Ballad Of The Beaconsfield Miners sees a Grohl guitar solo rise and rise as you’d expect until it’s screaming at you, begging to be heard. Nothing At All off the latest record, But Here We Are, is a more poppy, punky approach to the usual Foos rock. Perhaps most ludicrous of all is drum tech Fiona being invited on stage to sing about having great big balls of fire in the AC/DC deep-cut, Big Balls.

“You guys want one more? You guys want ten more?” Grohl asks to rapturous applause. “We have too many songs, and I don’t wanna go home.” Monkey Wrench jettisons at full force with enough swing and aggression to blow the roof off; luckily, this stadium doesn’t have one, as red lights scramble to keep up with the heavy pulsing beat of classic rock. “Let me hear you fucking scream!” The crowd gives just as hard as the band’s been giving all night, but Dave wants more. “I’ll show you 28 years of professional training”, as the fires of hell erupt from his vocal cords. 

Best Of You sends the band off stage. I can almost forgive them for the bizarre events that preceded this. This is Foo Fighters, quite literally, at their best. As the instruments rise and quicken into a crescendo of clattering metal and storming sounds. A brief intermission then sees the band return with The Teacher. “Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for coming to the rock show tonight,” Dave says, sending us off with the final song Everlong. The crowd goes wild, phones are up, and people are screaming and dancing. What a send-off to a high-octane night.

The back end feels as if the band is so apologetic for the delayed visit to Australian shores that they’re playing anything and everything to make up for lost time. Yet the show plays out like an evening with a band so established they’re telling genuinely fantastic tales of boozy jail sentences and Australians named Dick saving miners in between songs. The spectacle of the show is boosted by the charisma and musical talent of the band, as well as the exciting visuals, making each song larger than life.

Even subdued, tender moments have a home here, such as the ode to late drummer Taylor Hawkins with his favourite Foo Fighters song, Aurora, which sparkles and shimmers in its kaleidoscopic 80s rock sound. With a setlist lasting over two and half hours, this Foo Fighters experience isn’t for the faint of heart, but if your legs can last that long, you’re in for a treat spanning 30 years in the making.

Foo Fighters Setlist @ HBF Park, Perth (Wednesday, 29 November 2023)

1.      All My Life

2.      No Son Of Mine (with Paranoid and Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap riffs)

3.      Rescued

4.      The Pretender

5.      Walk

6.      Times Like These (Dave and Rami into full band)

7.      Under You

8.      Stacked Actors

9.      Breakout

10.   Guitar Solo / Sabotage / Keyboard Solo / Blitzkrieg Bop / The Outsider / Whip It / March Of The Pigs (Band intros)

11.   My Hero (Dave solo into full band)

12.   The Sky Is A Neighbourhood

13.   Learn To Fly

14.   Arlandria

15.   These Days

16.   Statues (live debut; Dave, Chris and Rami acoustic)

17.   Ballad Of The Beaconsfield Miners (first performance since 2018; Dave solo)

18.   Nothing At All (with The Beatles’ Blackbird intro)

19.   Monkey Wrench

20.   Aurora (dedicated to Taylor Hawkins)

21.   This Is A Call

22.   Big Balls (AC/DC cover) (with Fiona, Foo Fighters’ Aussie drum tech, on vocals)

23.   Best Of You

Encore:

24.   The Teacher

25.   Everlong

Soundcheck: Stacked Actors, The Teacher, Statues, Arlandria, and No Son Of Mine