There Goes My Hero
When going to a concert, there’s an inherent expectation that you’re going to get something out of it that you couldn’t get from listening to a studio recording. Otherwise, what’s the point, right? You could just save yourself a couple hundred bucks and listen to your music on Spotify, but with a concert you want a show, you want to be a part of a community, you want to experience some kind of interaction or connection with the performers. I first realized this back in college when I went to a concert series headlined by Death Cab for Cutie. Did they sound good? Yeah, of course. They’re great musicians, even live. At the same time, they lacked stage presence. I remember them just standing on stage playing through their set like it was a checklist; no movement, no energy, no memorable crowd interaction. It’s been over a decade now, but I can still recall what a letdown that concert was. So, what impression did the Take Cover Tour leave? I’m happy to report that there was no such disappointment here.
Let’s start with the opener, Mannequin Pussy. They were the least flashy in terms of aesthetics, with just a large banner behind them emblazoned with their logo. But if there’s anything Mannequin Pussy shows, it’s that glitzy set pieces aren’t necessary for a memorable performance. This band knows how to work a crowd. Like the Foo Fighters, a lot of their appeal comes from a frontman, or in this case frontwoman. Marisa “Missy” Dabice likes to use the stage, creating movement, dancing, and engaging with the crowd. True to their punk roots, a lot of their crowd interaction is spent sharing progressive messages, attacking capitalist systems while praising the working class. Their set list heavily favored their newest album “I Got Heaven” featuring 8 of its songs including “I Got Heaven”, “Loud Bark”, and “Sometimes”. The band also played “Drunk II” and “Romantic” from their albums “Patience” and “Romantic”.
Up next were long time friends of the Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age. Out of all the bands Queens of the Stone Age had the best vocal fidelity. Josh Homme sounds truly fantastic live. Although the band recently released “Easy Street”, we didn’t get a chance to hear it this time as the group stuck to classics like “No One Knows”, “Go With The Flow”, and “Make It Wit Chu”. Beyond the music, their set included Josh playing with and throwing out giant novelty guitar picks, instrumental solos, and over the top graphics playing on the giant screen behind them.
It may come as no surprise though, that it was the Foo Fighters that stole the show. The 100+ degree heat didn’t stop Grohl and the rest of the band from running around the stage for 3 hours to play a set jam packed with hits. This show marked the final concert to ever play in Nissan stadium, and the Foo Fighters seemed determined to make it one worth remembering.
The band played nearly 30 songs with a setlist that offered a little bit of everything. Of course, there were the massive hits that you would expect from a Foo Fighters show: “Everlong”, “The Pretender”, “Learn to Fly”, “My Hero”, and “Best of You” (just to name a few), but the band also dug into its catalog for deeper cuts including “Exhausted” and “Stacked Actors”. We also were graced with some of the band’s newer releases with “Your Favorite Toy”, “The Teacher”, and “Window all making the list. Rather than just feeling like a greatest-hits playlist, the set had all the hallmarks of a band celebrating its entire extensive history.
History would remain a major theme throughout the night. Right at the midway point of the show, Grohl played “Marigold” which he wrote in the early 90’s and recorded with Nirvana. The rest of the band followed suit a little later on, each taking turns playing a song from their old bands. Shiflett performed “Invincible” from his time in No Use for a Name, Mendel did “Seven” by Sunny Day Real Estate, and Jaffee chose his hit song with The Wallflowers, “One Headlight”. Shane West made a surprise appearance to reunite with Pat Smear and sing The Germs song “Manimal”. Rubin finished things off by switching instruments with Grohl to solo on guitar although the audience might have been a little distracted as they swooned over the chance to see Grohl behind the drums again.
The Foo Fighters also demonstrated their connection with the crowd. Grohl spent plenty of time talking to the audience between songs, cracking jokes about how old the band is, telling stories about getting pelted with mentos, and acknowledging the unique circumstances of the evening. The veteran musicians showed that they still know how to connect with their audience, even in a stadium full of people. It’s one thing to watch a world-famous rock band perform, but it’s another to feel like the people on stage are actually having fun being there with you. 
For all the spectacle, some of the night’s most powerful moments were considerably simpler. The Foo Fighters dedicated “Aurora” to Taylor Hawkins, the band’s late drummer and longtime friend of Grohl. Given Hawkins’ enormous importance to the band, the song carried an outsized emotional weight. At the end of the show Grohl also played the song “The Teacher” dedicated to his mother, providing another somber moment.
The concert concluded with a three-song encore. Despite the heat and impressive duration, the band still had enough energy to come back out and give the crowd one more burst of music, closing the night with “Everlong” as fireworks exploded over the stadium.
In addition to the music, the show featured an impressive visual production. With set changes, lights, the aforementioned fireworks, and giant LED screens there was always something to look at. The crown jewel of the set was undoubtedly the multiple concrete-like structures with mounted lights that seemed to float above the stage. They would move and rotate as the show progressed to create striking visual effects. The changing production gave each section of the show a unique character from the fast-paced entrance to the mellow middle, all the way to the show-stopping end.
Since I left the stadium Saturday night, I can’t stop singing “My Hero”. I’ve been watching old clips of the Foo Fighters on late night shows (and new clips of them eating overly spicy hotwings), and I’ve been reading through all the band members’ Wikipedia pages. That’s all because the show left an impact. I came home just wanting to hold on to a piece of that night. When you watch Grohl perform, you can tell that he was born to be an entertainer. Beyond all of the music and the lights, there’s something magical about watching someone who’s so passionate and skilled at their craft, and when you go to a concert, that’s what you hope to experience, something magical. If you’re hoping to feel a bit of the magic for yourself, tickets for the remaining shows of the Take Cover Tour can be found here.
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As a software engineer for Microsoft by day, Brady Hammond moonlights as a musician, artist, writer, and all-around arts enthusiast in his free time. He received a B.A. in Linguistics from BYU in 2017 with minors in Scandinavian studies and computer science. Hailing originally from Georgia, Brady has enjoyed traveling the world. He spent some time living in Denmark before eventually returning to the states. He currently resides in Nashville with his wife and three children.
Totally agree, there’s something different about being in the same space as the band, it’s a whole other level of connection.