Foo Fighters at Tennents Vital

By Brian Coney

It has been a week to the day since they played to thousands at Belfast's Boucher Playing Fields as part of T Vital 2012, and Foo Fighters have since brought Reading and Leeds festival to a triumphant, 26-song close stating that it was "their last show for a long time". Whether or not there’s much truth in the claim, it nonetheless breathes yet more significance into their recent long-awaited Northern Irish live debut.

After almost two decades of “will they, won’t they?’ ensuing mild frustration from many, when Dave Grohl and co. descended out on to the stage last Tuesday to the sound of ‘White Limo’, it was instantly a dream come true for their legions of Northern Irish fans. Neither muddy ground nor the threat of looming thunderstorms could mar the feel-good sentiment; a quick one-two of the breakdown-heavy ‘All My Life’ and bobbing ‘Rope’ revealing super-tight dynamics and a slick versatility that defines the band’s now world-renown shtick.

With Dave Grohl knowingly teasing the crowd by refusing to speak or vocally acknowledge their presence, a first-rate airing of ‘The Pretender’ sees drummer Taylor Hawkins unleash in a manner all his own; elated rows of fist-clenched fans belting the “Who are you?” refrain in straight-up, nigh on euphoric unison.

The singular emotive drive of ‘My Hero’, too, sees the five-piece drop out for the crowd to sing the chorus, “…watch him as he goes” still echoing across the night as the band end on the song’s trademark live ‘heavy’ riff.

Rubbing his chin and growing visibly more beset with emotion, Dave finally speaks: “We’re the Foo Fighters and we’re honoured to be here – we’ve waited too long and we’re going to play all night. I’m taking this personally,” before tearing straight into ‘Dear Rosemary’ and their ever-catchy mid-1990s single ‘Learn To Fly’.

While almost every song aired has an occasionally drawn-out, highly formulaic breakdown and the inevitable “here we go!” before each chorus, becoming a tad tedious after a while, Foo Fighters perform with unabated gusto and unmistakable intent. It’s impossible to complain.

As you might expect, the banter is second-to-none too. Whether you look to the countless crowd descents into “olé olé olé…”, Taylor’s hilarious Freddie Mercury-esque call-and-response routine or Dave stopping ‘Breakout’ to show up a girl on her phone, mid-song antics make up much of the band’s set – so much so that Dave finally goes as far to utter, “If we don’t start playing some songs, someone’s going to call the cops”.

Cue the pantomime-esque boos, before another wave of singles including the ridiculously nostalgic ‘Generator’ and ‘Walk’.

With night having quickly dropped, the sense of occasion becomes second nature, the highly anticipated spectacle a reality.

With Dave claiming, “We don’t need computers and **** to play music. We’re a rock band and we play rock music” (assumingly in reference to certain modern-day acts), the crowd and band both peak on a thoroughly kickass version of ‘Monkey Wrench’, Dave running down the makeshift stage runaway, to play an extended guitar solo.

With the unmistakable chords of the Who’s ‘Baba O’Riley’ emerging from a post-song (well-rehearsed) “jam”, an unremarkable performance of ‘Hey, Johnny Park’ falls flat before Dave dedicates a solo version of ‘This Is A Call’ to his young daughter Violet, sat cross-legged, wearing oversized headphones at the back of the stage.

With more genuinely touching moments like this, an excellent cover of Pink Floyd’s ‘In The Flesh’, a brief snippet of Stiff Little Finger’s ‘Alternative Ulster’, an on-stage birthday dedication to the band’s tour manager Gus Brandt and a four-song encore ending on the inevitable – yet no less incredible – ‘Everlong’, Dave Grohl insists his band will be back much sooner second time around.

How soon that will be in light of recent events is anyone’s guess but, a week on from their Belfast debut – warranting over 100 noise complaints from up to 14 miles away – the first time around was more than worth the wait.

And to the killjoys I say: while you may have grown accustomed to a life of soulless cynicism, you are far outweighed, both in number and spirit, by the thousands who were in attendance last Tuesday night.