The Cape Town Stadium lights are cut and screaming ensues, spearheaded by the opening riff of ‘All My Life’. David Eric Grohl crashes onto stage, cartoonish grin and surplus of energy in tow. A reflex of arms punch the air to the ear-piercing tune of “DONE DONE ON TO THE NEXT ONE/ DONE I’M DONE AND ON TO THE NEXT”.
The Foo Fighters are here motherfuckers.
Taylor Hawkins and his weed-patterned shorts announce their presence in the back via a short breakdown, post-second chorus on ‘Rope’, while a totally grey Pat Smear looks delighted, rocking his Hagström backwards and forwards.
I scream in my buddy Mo’s cleverly protected ears that “Wasting Light” pretty much kept me alive at one point but no time to reminisce during the opening melody of ‘The Pretender’. Dave takes his sweet time unpacking the song, stopping right before the bridge, casually repeating the Chuck Berry-esque riff over and over.
The couple in front of me have taken shit to the next level with a series of video selfies. They start tonging each other hard during ‘Learn To Fly’. The heavy Mothorhead influence of ‘White Limo’ tears its way through the inner crowd circle as Dave’s manic cackling takes strain under the dodgy sound.
They counter with ‘Alandria’, (the ode to Dave’s childhood stomping ground) and he’s back to teasing us again, drawing out the simple opening two notes and repeating them over and over. His Grohliness chooses this time to address us, laughing: “You guys are so fucking cool.”
The catwalk that cuts the Golden Circle in half serves as Dave’s Moses-like walkway – a perfect hype man needs a perfect hype ramp. Again he speaks: “We’re not one of those bands who pretend we’re coming back. We just play until we can’t play anymore.” He flashes his trademark cheese curl smile.
We’re almost halfway through before any song off “Sonic Highway” makes an appearance. I find the country-rooted ‘Congregation’ a weird choice but they counter with ‘Walk’ to appease the masses. His Grohliness cracks open a Peroni and begins to introduce the band. Hello Rami Jaffee on the “squeeze box” (Grohl speak for accordion). “We bring him along sometimes… he’s the only one that knows how to read sheet music.”
We hit ‘In The Clear’ and my legs and lower back are starting to pain from all the furious movement. The Foos are in the middle of a three hour set. I feel like a pansy. The dude behind Mo is singing so furiously his spit continually hits the back of Mo’s neck. They slow ‘Big Me’ down to ballad proportions and it’s glorious. The spit man’s eyes are closed. He’s harmonising the hell outta this track. His voice is pretty fucking spectacular.
‘Something From Nothing’ in the flesh does not disappoint. The build-up is subtle. They’re in perfect sync. Chris Shiflett’s skill brings me to tears. The end verse is monstrous. “FUCK IT ALL I CAME FROM NOTHING”.
Time to turn things down, get up close. Dave walks to the end of the walkway and sets up camp. He tells us that 20 years ago they never would’ve thought anything like this would have been possible. His eyes are glassy. So are mine. He tells us he’s going to sing a song that’s exclusively for us. He starts to croon the opening lines of ‘Times Like These’, softly, slowly. No one’s in a fucking rush. After a minute the band kick into high gear, resuming the track’s god-intended pace. And it’s perfect. One hand in the air, one hand on our hearts.
Dave wants to perform “the best song ever written” and they tackle ‘Under Pressure’ with two-part vox. They break before the next song because his Grohliness wants to tell us about his day. Something about Harleys and whatnot. But oh, they’ve made a new bestie. HELLO THEO CROUS. They call Theo out onto stage and I swear the man couldn’t be more adorable. Looking like a kid at Christmas. Dave takes up a call and response shouting “Theeeo”. We echo back. They set off into the funk-driven cover of The Rolling Stones’ “Miss You” with Taylor on vocal duty. Nate Mendel’s laying down that bass backbone with Dave two-stepping down the walkway holding a bottle of champagne. Holy shit… some madman managed to make it passed security onto the stage. OMFG HE’S GOING TO TACKLE DAVE. Nope, he streaks straight passed Dave into a stage dive. Dave realises what just went down and claps in approval. Theo’s still smiling.
Back at centre-stage Dave calls Taylor the best frontman. Taylor calls Dave the best drummer. OMG IT’S GOING TO HAPPEN. Dave takes his seat at the kit, Tay Tay grabs the mic and they do an insane Cheap Trick cover followed by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ ‘Breakdown’. It’s my concert highlight with Rami rounding off the cover staples courtesy of a gorgeous bout of bluesy keys while Chris and Dave work out the melody between them.
Set closer ‘Everlong’ has majority of us holding onto that last shred of Foos Fury. Dave doesn’t want go. We don’t want him to. He says he’s going to tell his buddies Queens of the Stone Age about us and we roar in approval.
I don’t want to say goodbye so I’m just going to say, ‘til we meet again.
